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Rhodes Threatens to Say "Arrevederci" to the Italian Program
Anna Meyerrose
Issue date: 2/11/09 Section: News
Recently, the Modern Languages Department announced its decision to cancel the Italian program at Rhodes College. However, there was some opposition to this choice. In response, two students took the initiative to try to reverse the fate of the Italian department. Carolina Sanchez-Hervas and Jasmine Yohai, two Italian students at Rhodes, decided to circulate a petition in support of the program.
"The petition was a great way to get student support" said Sanchez-Hervas.
Italian has never been offered as either a major or a minor at Rhodes. Lack of interest was named as the leading reason for this, and is also a contributing factor to the decision to discontinue the program altogether. The only incentive to continue studies beyond Italian 201 (which would meet the language requirement) is for International Studies majors who needed to take a language through the 202 level. This lack of incentive decreased the number of students who opted to study Italian.
"I think there is considerable interest, and, if given the chance, I think more people would choose to continue studying Italian past the 201 level if given the incentive of achieving a minor or major in Italian" said Sanchez-Hervas.
The petition circulated by Sanchez-Hervas and Yohai succeeded in generating over two hundred signatures; these supporters consisted of current, prospective, and former students of Italian, along with other, non-Italian students who were, nonetheless, reluctant to see the end of this program. This petition was presented to Dr. Drompp, Dean of Academic Affairs, for consideration.
"All of the professors I have spoken with that did not know the Italian program was in question were very surprised; they immediately wanted to know the reasons why," says Sanchez-Hervas. "And the professors who already knew about the future of the program expressed disappointment and encouraged Jasmine and I to continue our efforts".
Currently, the only Italian professor at Rhodes is Professor Albertson.
"The petition was a great way to get student support" said Sanchez-Hervas.
Italian has never been offered as either a major or a minor at Rhodes. Lack of interest was named as the leading reason for this, and is also a contributing factor to the decision to discontinue the program altogether. The only incentive to continue studies beyond Italian 201 (which would meet the language requirement) is for International Studies majors who needed to take a language through the 202 level. This lack of incentive decreased the number of students who opted to study Italian.
"I think there is considerable interest, and, if given the chance, I think more people would choose to continue studying Italian past the 201 level if given the incentive of achieving a minor or major in Italian" said Sanchez-Hervas.
The petition circulated by Sanchez-Hervas and Yohai succeeded in generating over two hundred signatures; these supporters consisted of current, prospective, and former students of Italian, along with other, non-Italian students who were, nonetheless, reluctant to see the end of this program. This petition was presented to Dr. Drompp, Dean of Academic Affairs, for consideration.
"All of the professors I have spoken with that did not know the Italian program was in question were very surprised; they immediately wanted to know the reasons why," says Sanchez-Hervas. "And the professors who already knew about the future of the program expressed disappointment and encouraged Jasmine and I to continue our efforts".
Currently, the only Italian professor at Rhodes is Professor Albertson.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
cmemelue
Martha
posted 2/26/09 @ 1:42 PM CST
I took Latin for four years in high school and fulfilled the language proficiency requirement here at Rhodes. I would love to learn another language, and Italian is the only language offered that I would consider taking. (Continued…)
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