Slashing humanities degrees; preparing for a queen sacrifice?

Greetings from a rainy, chilly northeastern Virginia day. I’m buried on work, especially on climate change and AI, but wanted to note this story as I keep modeling post-peak higher education.

In Minnesota is a pair of campuses, the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, which, while separately named and around five miles apart, are closely linked, even to the point of sharing the same board of trustees.

Those trustees just approved a proposal from their combined president to cut a series of majors, concentrations, and minors. Almost all of these are in the humanities, according to local radio news:

The list of majors being phased out includes Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Gender Studies, and Theater (minors will remain in these programs). The Dietetics concentration in Nutrition and composition, performance, and liturgical music concentrations within music are also included.

Language and area studies in particular met the chopping block:

Language majors and minors being phased out include French, German, Latin, and Japanese. Asian Studies, Chinese, Greek, and Peace Studies programs will disappear entirely.

Why is this pair of campuses taking such a step? I can’t find arguments about an overall financial crisis, yet Inside Higher Ed says the cuts are about enrollment within those programs, as well as overall enrollment slipping: