A few years ago, a conservative professor getting a critical email from a student would spawn a dozen articles and thinkpieces on censorship.

Now we have entire departments getting dropped to appease an actual authoritarian regime and suddenly the panic has evaporated.

So, uh, where precisely are you finding a sufficient # conservative professors to make that kind of statement? I'm curious as to where they're hiding...

There was never any demand by the public for the output of such departments. They have been perceived as existing in their own bubbles. It's got nothing to do with conservative professors. It's just there's really no need for these departments in every university.

Are those crucial for agriculture and mechanics?

Not anymore (since the 1860s or so).