Dakota Wesleyan To Ax All Language Courses Except Spanish
MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell plans to drop most of its foreign language courses and only teach Spanish by 2016, University officials said.
The decision to eliminate all but one of its foreign language courses came after seeing low enrollment numbers and needing to place faculty into some of the other English literature and composition courses, reported the Mitchell Daily Republic ( ).
“As any good business, we need to ensure that we are using our faculty talents and resources to the maximum benefit of our students, their goals and their aspirations,” said University President Amy Novak.
Currently, students can study German, Italian and Spanish with courses in Greek, Latin and Japanese offered based on student interest and instructor availability. But only two to 10 students enrolled in German, Italian and Latin each semester at the university, whose arguably best known alumnus is late U.S. Sen. George McGovern, a vice presidential candidate who later worked often with the United Nations.
“I find it really sad that more students are not signing up for languages to help them connect with others around the world,” said Gretchen Rich, assistant professor of English at the school. “It would make world relations much easier.”
Novak agreed that learning languages has many benefits, but she said DWU offers many fields in which students can immerse themselves, namely music and art.
Brianna Weiss, a creative writing and digital media and design senior at DWU, said one of the many reasons she came to DWU was for the various language options, which allowed her to further her German language education.
“It’s rounded me and helped me learn about my roots,” Weiss said. “I’m from German stock, and I’ve always wanted to be able to ‘see where I came from,’ so to speak.”
Novak said that if a business or industry partner were to request other language offerings, or if a significant number of students demanded certain language offerings with sustained enrollment, the university would consider adding additional languages back to the curriculum.
“Small, private colleges cannot be all things to all people,” she said. “We believe we have tremendous strengths in certain areas on our campus.”
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Information from: The Daily Republic,
