To the Editor:

Re: “A Disappearing Haven for Humanists,” Opinion, March 5

The author and editor may not be aware, but “humanities” and “humanists” are only tangentially related. I believe the phrase they were searching for is “humanity major.” Kurt Vonnegut '44 was a humanist, Samuel Beckett and John Gardner both majored in the humanities but could not be considered humanist and Richard Dawkins, the possibly the fore-most humanist today, majored in zoology.

For all the havoc that it has inspired, the recent economic crisis has engendered at least one positive development: humanities majors and like-minded literati have been able to make full use of the word schadenfreude. The German term, defined by the OED as “malicious enjoyment of the misfortunes of others,” has been so frequently invoked in recent months that The New York Times’ deputy news editor was forced to advise writers to lay off of it. But overuse is to be expected — these days, intellectuals have few occasions to rejoice.