Analysis: “Disaster,” says the professor. “Language is one of the characteristics that makes us unique humans.”
West Virginia University is preparing to eliminate its World Languages program next year, reflecting a trend in higher education that concerns linguists and historians.
Cuts to foreign language courses are also being made at other universities, including the State University of New York at Fredonia and Harvard University.
said WVU linguistics professor Jonah Katz. university fix The university’s layoffs extend beyond the World Languages Department, which is scheduled to be abolished before the new academic year.
The World Languages, Literature, and Linguistics program is suffering after major faculty cuts at WVU — 150 faculty members have been laid off and another 100 to 150 have been ‘voluntarily’ accelerated. I am retired,” Katz said in a recent email.
The public university is downsizing as it faces a $45 million deficit. In the fall, the board of directors voted to eliminate the Department of World Languages and cut other programs, including civil engineering, educational administration, and art history.
The change will affect less than 1 percent of undergraduate students and about 4 percent of graduate students, according to a university news release.
Katz expressed concern about the impact of eliminating the program on students and faculty.
“The current layoffs are not the end of WVU’s disaster. They are just the beginning,” Katz said.
When asked why his field of research is important, Katz replied, “Language is one of the characteristics that makes us unique humans.” He emphasized that “understanding the cognitive and biological underpinnings of language is an essential part of understanding what it means to be human.”
He also said that “the analytical, cognitive, and computational study of language has been central to technological development and commercial applications in technology over the past several generations.”
According to Katz, language’s contribution to technology development “will become even more central with the rise of large language model-driven AI applications.”
But, he said, “by eliminating the scientific study of language from its course offerings, WVU is effectively closing off an entire career field to its students.”
And it’s not just WVU. In March, the State University of New York at Fredonia announced plans to cut 13 programs, including majors in French and Spanish.
A statement released by the public university said the decision was made to maintain “financial sustainability.”
Stephen Collison, president of the State University of New York at Fredonia, said in a release that the discontinued programs had “low enrollment” and the university is focused on investing in “strong and relevant programs.” said.
correction I contacted NYU Fredonia and WVU’s communications offices twice in the past two weeks to ask about cuts to foreign language programs, but did not receive a response.
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Ivy League universities are also cutting language programs.
Harvard history professor James Hankins lamented recent changes in university history. law and freedom A magazine essay about the “woke seizure of major cultural institutions.”
“When I came to Harvard in 1985, I said, “If you can find someone who knows a language that is usually tucked away somewhere in the back of Widener Library, you can learn over 150 languages here.” “I heard a surprising (to me) boast,” Hankins wrote.
“Currently, that number is 45, slightly less than the number taught at the University of Michigan and considerably less than the 75 taught at Yale. Clearly, it is a product of ‘multiculturalism.’ ” he wrote.
Over the past decade, universities have steadily reduced foreign language learning opportunities, according to the Modern Language Association.
When contacted for comment on this trend, the MLA pointed out correction “Enrollment in languages other than English decreased by 16.6% from fall 2016 to fall 2021,” according to the 2023 report.
Two-year institutions were the most affected, with foreign language enrollment declining by 24% between 2016 and 2021, according to the report.
The MLA stated that “the decline in the number of language registrants is due to [partially] This is likely due to a decrease in the number of students enrolling in universities. ”
However, according to the report, between 2016 and 2021, “university enrollment decreased by 8.0%” and “language enrollment decreased by 16.6%,” so the decline in enrollment is an opportunity. This does not fully explain the decline.
The MLA report notes that funding is “an essential component of the language sector’s recovery” and found a “moderate positive correlation” between increased funding and language program enrollment. I observed that there is.
The downward trend has continued for more than 10 years. A 2011 study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside found that 59 percent of four-year colleges majored in Romance languages in 2006, up from nearly 76 percent in 1970-71. “It has been found. Spanish class was an exception.
More information: Northwestern University project aims to create foreign language classes ‘free of gender bias’
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