Gender Studies Major at Northeastern Illinois U. Has Only Four Enrolled Students
“interdisciplinary field that explores the experiences of women and the many ways that gender works throughout everyone’s lives”
This is the second report we have seen like this in recent weeks. Are students finally starting to figure things out?
Campus Reform reports:
Northeastern Illinois gender studies major enrolls just 4 students
Northeastern Illinois University’s enrollment in its gender studies degree program has remained below 10 students for five years running, the school’s data shows.
The university maintains a page tracking five-year enrollment trends every spring. The data reveals that gender studies is not a popular major at the school.
In spring 2021, only two students were enrolled in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Bachelor of Arts. That number rose to six students in spring 2022 before declining to five students in 2023 and four students in both 2024 and 2025.
The university had an enrollment of 3,749 undergraduate students in spring 2025, which means that 0.11 percent of the student body was enrolled in the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies degree.
Only nine other NEIU undergraduate degree programs had fewer than 10 students enrolled in spring 2025 (Urban Community Studies, Music Performance, Music, Earth Science, Latina/o/x & Latin American Studies, Anthropology, Geography, Global Studies, and Spanish), according to Campus Reform’s review of the enrollment data.
Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies describes itself as an “interdisciplinary field that explores the experiences of women and the many ways that gender works throughout everyone’s lives.”
The major in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies requires six core courses in addition to two electives.
The required courses include “Introduction To Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies,” “Feminist Activism,” “Feminist Theory,” “Writing Intensive Program: The Power Of Writing: Interdisciplinarity As Critical Practice,” “Internship In Women’s, Gender And Sexuality Studies,” and “Women’s, Gender And Sexuality Studies Seminar.”
A description for “Feminist Activism” says that students will “create and participate in activist projects during the semester.”
Options for electives include “Contemporary LGBTQ+ Literature,” “Studies In Women’s Literature,” “Re-Thinking Race And Gender,” and “Latina/x Feminisms & Social Media.”
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Comments
They’d have to conscript the entire student body onto a College Bowl team, to take on the Central Phrenological Society of Philadelphia.