Guess which top college is launching a “creator economy” program?

I’ll give you a hint. They bleed orange and blue and Dinosaur B-B-Q.

Last week, Syracuse University announced the launch of a new Center for the Creator Economy. The first academic hub of its kind on a U.S. college campus, this spanking new third space—fourth space? Fifth space?!—will “offer courses, [and] research and industry partnerships to prepare students for careers in digital content and entrepreneurship.” In other words? Get in, influencers. We’re going to college.

This isn’t your older sister’s Twitch, by the way. (Or, Reels? Vines?!) The bespoke center is aimed at a new class of professionally minded content creators, “from podcasters and streamers to influencers and digital artists.”

In their announcement, Syracuse cited a Goldman Sachs appraisal that has the creator economy approaching $500 billion by 2027. As one of very few American sectors on the uptick, it makes sense to jump on the heat. But questions remain.

A PEW report cited in the university’s press release suggests that most digital natives are already fluent in internet. (Two in five U.S. teenagers already earn income through digital channels.) So what can an influencer get out of a college degree? Especially if she’s been doing just dandy on her own?

As Francesca Aton at ARTNews reported Thursday, one answer is a blue check for the mind. Undergraduate and graduate classes in “creative content, audience engagement, and digital strategy” ought to help young entrepreneurs optimize their platforms.

There’s also the power of IRL networking. The center will host on-campus incubators, and provide avenues for mentorship—perhaps bringing the likes of Nara Smith into closer contact with her acolytes.

But the new program comes on the heels of some unsatisfying news for old fashioned students. Last week, Syracuse decided to halt admissions for 20 majors for the next academic year while the pertinent programs undergo an internal academic review.

Deans were instructed to review disputed majors given “nine-year enrollment data and financial metrics.” This task, and the stop work order itself, came down from Syracuse’s senate, where faculty input was not solicited.

On the chopping block are many humanities majors—like French, German, Italian, Russian, Classics, African American Literature, Latin-Latino American Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Modern Jewish Studies, and Religion. Even a few you may have thought safe (Statistics, Chemistry, and Applied Math) are in the line of fire. And, of course, Fine Arts.

Students will still be able to take classes in these subjects while the major pause is in effect. But it’s hard not to see a pattern here. Today’s Latin lovers may fare better if they frame their esoteric interests as a podcast.

I don’t mean to pick on old Otto the Orange. Syracuse is hardly the only college to be openly panicking as they reconsidering their place in the culture. American universities themselves feel on a chopping block. Authoritarian pressure is mounting on colleges, big and small. And as sticker prices tick up, enrollment at many private liberal arts colleges is on the sharp decline.

It’s hard to picture how higher education will look in America in twenty years, that’s for sure. But I’ve got one guess. The future will be digital.