The end of last week brought unhappy news to the Language, Literature, and Communications department: The language aspect of the department will essentially be getting the axe next year. Four clinical faculty members were told that they were not going to have their contracts renewed after this school year concludes. Should this occur, it would signal the end of a handful of programs.
I was shocked enough when my writing professor Julie Gutmann—one of the four professors notified—told our independent study group that she would probably not be here next year. Upon hearing that my former French professor Lucien Gerber was also in the same boat, along with Japanese professor Misa Dubrawski and Chinese professor Tong Shen, I was speechless.
While I understand that the financial situation of the Institute means that cuts have to be made somewhere, I do not think that such a large portion should come from the language department.
To me, language has always been incredibly important. As a high school senior, I had narrowed down my career paths to studying engineering at the ’Tute or foreign languages at Bard College (the polar opposite of RPI). Although engineering won out, I had applied to RPI over other tech schools because of the fact that it had some sort of language department (limited as it was) where I could get a minor in French. I guess it was a good thing I got that minor while I could.
This cut has left several questions looming in my mind, namely what will happen to students who are in the process of a minor. It seems unfair that students have invested one or two years in studying a language, with the expectation of receiving a minor, only to be notified that they can no longer do so. Studying a language is also very different from math or science; language needs constant exercise to retain or it will be lost. Even one year after finishing a minor, I find myself rusty when it comes to French.
Though students have continually raised concerns about the lack of foreign language offerings, particularly German, the administration has hoped to quell these complaints by stating that we can still take classes through the Hudson-Mohawk Consortium. Regardless of these opportunities, it is still an inconvenience to students and will discourage them from pursuing any language studies at all. With the creation of our study abroad initiatives like Rensselaer Engineering Education Across Cultural Horizons, students should be able to completely immerse themselves in a culture. However, they cannot do so without knowing the language; hand signals can only get them so far.
Above even the foreign language being cut, what leaves me dumfounded is the discontinuation of Gutmann’s writing classes. Through classes that require group work in addition to my role on The Poly, I see many students’ writing skills at work in the form of lab reports and articles, respectively. More often than not, I am underwhelmed. I am left scratching my head at how many students here lack the ability to communicate much of anything through writing—an important life skill we will need upon entering the work force. With the implementation of a communications requirement for the Class of 2010 and beyond, I thought the Institute realized this problem as well.
How can we expect students to learn to write, however, if we do not provide classes to teach that very skill? It is like asking someone to write in blue pen while only providing black. Members of the Cabinet have reiterated that the goal of all budget cuts was to protect “the academic enterprise” of the Institute. Personally, I do not see how these particular cuts fit in. Although these classes may not be the core of our education at RPI, the skills that they teach are critical to our success after leaving the ’Tute. I can only hope that the administration will reconsider renewing the contracts of some professors or will otherwise address how the Institute will ensure that students still have access to such classes; they are what make us the well-rounded RPI graduates that companies clamor to hire.
