How to describe humanities students in one word

In several languages, there is a specific, usually rather derogatory word for students of the humanities. Would it be necessary to stick to 'arts students' or 'humanities students' to point out these students in English, or is it possible to describe this in a more direct and short manner? If there is such a noun, either in official or in popular vocabulary, would it be possible to also make this into a adjective - such as 'arts students' and that is such an 'artsy' thing to do but then specifically for the humanities.

Solution 1:

A humanities or social sciences student can be an artsie or artsy. This is a slang U.S. usage, but you'll find it here and there in college guides, student newspapers, university blogs, and other works about university life to refer both to the fine arts or liberal arts curricula and to the students enrolled in them. I have also seen liberal artsy, though only as an adjective, e.g.

liberal, artsy, liberal artsy Harvard

Artsy (and more sneeringly, artsy-fartsy) overwhelmingly refers to someone with an ostentatious, affected interest in the arts and creative culture— that is, arty. Any student more literate than your garden variety comsci or pre-business major might be accused of being artsy in this ordinary sense for quoting Duns Scotus or expressing a mild interest in ballet.

But the word also plays off of arts in the sense of liberal arts, arts and sciences, arts and humanities, or arts and letters, as commonly found in the name of the unit or program in which such a student is enrolled. The -y or -ie also serves as a friendly diminutive; at my university we regularly identified ourselves as Artsies or Aggies depending on which college we were enrolled in. We also had Hotelies, HumEccies, and even I-L-R-ies, though of course these are very much institution-specific