OU’s language community is reacting to a request by the OU Provost’s Office to evaluate the foreign language requirements for the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences, expressing anxiety and fear for anticipated greater cuts.
According to an email to OU Daily from Randall Hewes, interim dean of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Science, the language requirement within the college is under review but no decisions have been made. The Dodge Family College of Arts and Science and the David L. Boren College of International Studies are the only colleges left at OU that require three semesters of a language. College of Arts and Sciences students make up 33% of the OU student population.
Hewes said the evaluation process, which includes a review of the Association of American Universities data, remains ongoing and revisions will be recommended.
“The college is looking at which institutions in the public AAU have language requirements, either at the university-level or in colleges similar to Arts and Sciences, and the specific nature of those requirements,” Hewes wrote. “There isn’t a set decision date, but we will keep the community informed and share information as it becomes available.”
Part of the Lead On, University strategic plan is for OU to become an institution recognized by the AAU. The plan to become an AAU institution includes hiring 25 new faculty members every year for the next seven years to maintain the university’s excellence and provide further academic opportunities for OU’s student body.
André-Denis Wright, senior vice president and provost of OU, told OU Daily Friday that no decisions have been made and the university reevaluates its academic programs often. Wright said the evaluation will be completed in three months and then a recommendation will be made.
“We're hoping to be an AAU school, and so we're looking at AAU schools for our best practices and looking at how they do that stuff, but we also routinely look at and reevaluate our academic programs as well so we want to provide to our students with the best academic experience that they can receive,” Wright said.
OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. told OU Daily Friday no decisions have been made regarding the language requirement and this review is part of a standard evaluation.
“The provost wanted to look at that as part of a regular view of where we stand, how many hours were appropriate,” Harroz said.
Harroz said he’s received a lot of feedback from faculty and students following the publication of a Norman Transcript article Thursday night, which first reported the administrative review.
Harroz said the article the Norman Transcript released yesterday “went too far” in its reporting about the impacts of the review and said that there are no greater plans to remove language programs from campus.
OU faculty have expressed fear at the possibility of the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences removing the requirement, fearing it could lead to greater cuts within language programs across campus.
A Change.org petition posted by Raina Heaton, OU Native American studies professor, asking for signatures to “Oppose the Removal of Foreign Language Gen Ed requirements at OU” has 746 signatures as of Friday afternoon.
Ben Watson, OU classics professor and chair of classics and letters, spoke with OU Daily Friday and said he expects, if language requirements are cut, for beginning language classes to see a large loss in student enrollment. He said this potential decrease could impact faculty employment.
“Our beginning language classes are taught almost entirely by renewable term instructors and lecturers. I am worried that decreased enrollments will compromise their jobs,” Watson said.
Watson said it’s important to protect programs at OU because they are often the only places available in the state to gain a comprehensive education in languages. Watson said this is especially important for Native American languages at OU.
“I mean, this is a unique place. This is for me, in all the ways, a civic obligation, it's a moral obligation. It should be something that they cherish and take care of,” Watson said.
Farina King, an OU Native American studies professor, said if the university hopes to join the AAU, a robust language curriculum is necessary.
“The AAU has a standard of having high quality education and programs, and it's quite shocking to me that they think cutting some of our stellar programs and language is going to make us more competitive. … Languages are vital to all areas of learning knowledge,” King said. “There's evidence of how it enables and gives people job opportunities and competency in multiple ways.”
Laura Harjo, Native American studies chair, said Native American language study can help students feel connected to their heritage.
“One of the things is that our students have a really deep personal stake in these language programs,” Harjo said. “Some of them haven't had the opportunity to reconnect with their language or heritage, and this might be the first time, or their first step towards reconnecting.”
According to the Administration for Native Americans, there are 245 distinct Indigenous languages in the United States, but 65 are already extinct and 75 are nearing that point.
K.T. Palmer, a civil engineering junior and the OU Native American Studies undergraduate office assistant, said the Native American language faculty are cultural pillars at the university.
“It's the point of contact for a lot of students like me who didn't grow up in Indigenous communities,” Palmer said. “When we first come here, we don't know there's any sort of programming available, and it's usually because we take those language classes that we learn.”
King said learning languages has numerous positive impacts on students.
“It's been incredible sitting in on different classes and watching the students. It builds their confidence. It helps them to understand different people from them,” King said. “You have a greater understanding of the world; … it helps you to put it on different lenses, to have a fuller toolkit, as I describe it. We're trying to enable students and empower them with a full toolkit of different skills and abilities.”
The Provost Office’s request to reevaluate the language requirement comes amid national declines in language programs. Other than English, total college and university enrollments in languages dropped by 16.6% between fall 2016 and fall 2021, according to a 2023 report from the Modern Language Association. Between 2016 and 2021, total college and university enrollments fell by 8%, half the amount that language enrollments fell.
According to the report, despite decline in enrollment, OU’s Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics was profiled as one of the most successful departments nationwide. The report attributed OU’s success to administrative support, collaborative efforts overseas and the department’s success with internships, scholarships and capstone projects.
Watson said language studies are an important part of a student’s general education when they first enter college.
“I thought I knew what I wanted to do when I was 18. Turns out, I didn't. I went to college, and I discovered new things, things I was good at, things I didn't know existed, and it opened up different doors for me,” Watson said. “General education is about presenting people with opportunities, in addition to making you a good, well-rounded human being.”
This story was edited by Ismael Lele and Ana Barboza. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
