The language programs at Rensselaer have produced far-reaching effects, taking students on study abroad programs and engaging foreign companies in Rensselaer’s goals. With the strategy of the Renaissance at Rensselaer in action, valuing diverse experiences and aiming to establish the presence of Rensselaer on a global level, comes the news of the restriction of the foreign language program at RPI.
If one looks in the course offerings for next semester, German I and II are not listed. However, German III and Advanced German are available for those wanting to finish the sequence that they started. To acquire a minor in German, one needs to take German II, III, and two courses in Topics in Advanced German. Marton Marko, language program coordinator and the only German professor and advisor to the program, will be leaving Rensselaer at the end of this semester to hold a tenure track position at the University of Montana in Missoula. Marko received his Ph.D. last year and has been part of the RPI community for 10 years as a lecturer.
Removing the German language program has been talked about for some time in the Humanities and Social Sciences department, but it was agreed not to make a move to remove the minor. The department has made it a priority for the past four years to give a language professor executive power in order to give the language program more input into the department initiatives.
The student group to save German language program, led by Joe Gross ’07, has been pointing out to the administration that RPI is among the lowest-ranked in terms of language programs. “A simple comparison of Rensselaer and its ‘market basket’ competitor schools will show that RPI is grossly lacking and deficient in its language program.”
This was concluded by a committee that evaluated RPI’s language program. “MIT and Carnegie Mellon, for instance, each have 25 full-time professors in their language department, 10 of which are tenure track. Georgia Tech has 24 full-time language professors including 22 on tenure track.
“Lehigh, a technological school comparable in size and national ranking to RPI, has 14 full-time language professors, 11 of which are tenure track. Even WPI, which offers only two languages (Spanish and German), and is only about half the size of RPI, has two tenure track language professors,” said Gross. RPI lacks any tenure-track faculty for any of its language programs.
The problem at Rensselaer represents a bigger issue, which is a lack of communication between the different levels of faculty and administration. It must be noted that the Dean’s office has not authorized any cancellations of language programs, but it is something Cheryl Geisler, Language, Literature and Communication Chair, plans look into and to notify the Senate Curriculum Committee. Dr. Geisler’s reason for the removal of German from the curriculum was non-existent.“A language had to be cut, and the faculty voted to drop German.”
Dean Harrington of the School of H&SS believes in the renewal of ideas and to keep a fluid model allowing for change and innovation. Although German has never been the lowest—or close to the lowest—enrolled program, Dean Harrington leaves it up to the students if the German program is to be brought back in. For now, Dr. Geisler’s only option for students is to utilize the Hudson Mohawk Consortium, a group of colleges that Rensselaer students can take classes in, several of which offer courses in German.
