🛍️ Are malls dead?

Happy Monday! It’s August 21 — people are talking about West Virginia University’s budget cuts, the viability of shopping malls, and more.

As always, we’ve summarized and organized the different shades of perspective, so you can see the big picture quickly.

🎓 In the news: WVU’s budget cuts

West Virginia University announced cuts to several majors and faculty positions due to financial stress. Was it the right call?

🎓 AP News: West Virginia University outlined sweeping cuts to address budget problems. They will cut 32 majors, mostly in humanities.

🎓 The NYT thinks this is "educational gerrymandering", yet another Republican attack in the culture war. Without humanities majors, our collective diversity and intelligence plummets.

🎓 But the Chronicle of Higher Education says WVU is struggling financially, and their enrollment numbers are likely to drop in the coming years. So it's a tough decision, but a justifiable one.

🎓 Slate disagrees: This was a preventable crisis, and shouldn't result in programs getting cut. The blame sits squarely on the WVU administration — they had years to get ahead of this, but didn’t do enough.

🛍️ Cultural trend: Are malls dead?

Shopping malls have been declining for the last 40 years. Are we seeing the end of the American mall?

🛍️ Forbes: Roughly 1/3 of existing malls can't break 70% occupancy today. And from 2019 to 2022, foot traffic for outlet malls fell 9%. The cure is to reintroduce malls in city centers, not suburbs.

🛍️ Epos Now agrees — malls simply can't compete with online retailers and fast fashion stores. Operating costs are way too high.

🛍️ But CNN disagrees: Malls are actually adapting well. The top-tier malls are actually gaining foot traffic — e-tail didn't destroy everything. And some "online-only" retailers moved into malls to improve customer acquisition.

🛍️ The Atlantic isn’t worried. Malls have been "dying" for a long time, but people keep shopping. Malls are a communal meeting space — they’ll be fine!

Quick hits

🐋 Lolita (aka Tokitae) the orca, estimated to have been 57, died at the Miami Seaquarium. She'd been in captivity there for 53 years. (The Guardian)

⛈️ Tropical storm Hilary made landfall in southern California, bringing high winds and heavy rainfall to the area. (WaPo)

🎤 Bernardo Arévalo, Guatemala’s anti-corruption candidate, won the presidential election in a landslide. (NPR)

💉 New research suggests you should get successive Covid shots in the same arm. (CNN)

That’s it for today! Reply at [email protected] to let me know what you think of our newsletter, or to suggest a topic for next time.

Here at Shades we’re trying something new – quick summaries from different points of view. We think it’s a better way to stay informed and see the big picture. Please reach out if you’re curious to learn more!

- Jeff (co-founder of Shades)