For decades, the infrastructure of American higher education has not just facilitated global flows of knowledge but also of people, as students have traveled to the US, and as people educated in the US have taken up positions in academia around the world. Additionally, since the late 20th century, students have increasingly regarded North American universities as training grounds for professional careers, rather than centers of knowledge production. Students frequently select majors not based on interest, but on perceived pathways to secure careers. In this neoliberal, careeroriented paradigm, STEM fields have claimed an increasing share of majors. In recent years, however, rising hostility toward academia and foreign students has forced institutions, academics, and students to confront the fragility of the American higher education enterprise. It has also compelled many to seek out new connections and opportunities abroad. Today, I will discuss my experiences working in a humanities department at one of America’s top undergraduate STEM institutions. What does it mean to teach about music and East Asia at an institution with no humanities majors? What is the role of the musical humanities within an educational infrastructure that often defines success by terms like “return on investment”? Finally, how can studies of music and East Asia help (STEM) students envision new ways to navigate and thrive in the infrastructure of higher education amid Republican attacks on higher education and expertise, and a global tech hiring downturn?