Mellon Foundation Accused of Pushing Humanities Far Left

Critics say the foundation's funding priorities are reshaping liberal-arts education toward 'social-justice-ified' causes.

Published on Feb. 17, 2026

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The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly A. Strassel argues that the 'school-choice revolution sweeping the country' is facing 'endless lawfare' from opponents using a 'scorched-earth strategy.' Meanwhile, The Atlantic's Tyler Austin Harper says the massively endowed Mellon Foundation now 'seems to find value in arts and letters only insofar as they advance approved, left-leaning causes,' potentially 'remaking liberal-arts education entirely' toward a 'social-justice-ified vision of American arts and letters.'

Why it matters

The Mellon Foundation's influence over the humanities could have a profound impact on the fiscal health and cultural output of those fields, potentially shifting them away from a 'proper focus on the 'permanent problems' that have troubled human beings from time immemorial' and toward more left-leaning, activist-oriented priorities.

The details

Critics say the Mellon Foundation has 'disbursed enormous sums of money to hyper-liberal academic initiatives' and is supporting the 'scholar activist' model of 'humanities education,' which may 'remake liberal-arts education entirely' in a 'social-justice-ified vision' rather than a focus on timeless human concerns.

  • The Mellon Foundation's funding priorities have been a growing issue in recent years.

The players

Mellon Foundation

A massively endowed foundation that has significant influence over the fiscal health and cultural output of the humanities in the United States.

Tyler Austin Harper

A writer at The Atlantic who has criticized the Mellon Foundation's funding priorities.

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What they’re saying

“No single entity, including the federal government, has a more profound influence on the fiscal health and cultural output of the humanities than the massively endowed Mellon Foundation, which has the power to remake entire fields.”

— Tyler Austin Harper (The Atlantic)

“Mellon's leadership now seems to find value in arts and letters only insofar as they advance approved, left-leaning causes; it has disbursed enormous sums of money to hyper-liberal academic initiatives.”

— Tyler Austin Harper (The Atlantic)

The takeaway

The Mellon Foundation's funding priorities have the potential to significantly reshape the humanities in the United States, potentially pushing them in a more left-leaning, activist-oriented direction and away from a focus on timeless human concerns.