ASL in danger at Brown

[KamaAina]

http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/focus/brownASLckmont0405.html

In an article for Ragged Edge, Mamet writes that Brown ("an example to the world of progressive educational practices") has been "on the forefront of ASL education since 1995" and its decision to "backpedal" now "is simply bad form." Thal writes that it's "bittersweet to agree so strongly with the philosophy of a university -- with its 'new curriculum' liberal mindedness, commitment to diversity and strong undergraduate program -- that will not support the thing that means most to me: ASL."...

But Lennard Davis, who was one of the people who publicized the Brown students' call to action, said the university looked at the ASL programs in place at other, similar, schools and decided that the program should have a full-time, rather than part-time, coordinator, and more courses. Davis teaches in the disability studies program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His books include Bending Over Backwards: Essays on Disability and the Body and My Sense of Silence: Memoirs of a Childhood With Deafness . He said that a fulltime coordinator and more courses would have taken more money.

Brown's Academic Priorities Committee (APC), said Davis, decided that "the university needed to streamline, that the program did not fulfill requirements in a concentration, did not contribute to graduate education or research, did not aid in travel or the global economy."

Aha! Truth comes out: it's no longer important to communicate with people who (presumably) do not contribute to the global economy. If they don't make money (and donate it to Brown), they don't matter. That's not what the Ivy League is supposed to be about (Yale '85 here, and yes, I had a disability then, too).

http://www.browndailyherald.com/news/2005/04/15/CampusNews/Students.Want.U.To.Reconsider.Sign.Language.Program.Cuts-926492.shtml

Lipsky, the coordinator of ASL studies at Brown, had been warned by the director and associate director of the Center for Language Studies that the APC was considering cutting the program. But he had not been informed that the actual discussions were taking place, and the APC refused to let him get involved after the decisions had been made, he said.

When he found out that the Academic Priorities Committee, which is in charge of making curricular decisions, had been discussing the fate of ASL at Brown, he was already too late. The committee had made a final decision to reduce the program....

"The APC gave highest priority to languages that are closely related to the needs of the undergraduate concentrations, study abroad programs, graduate requirements and faculty research interests," he said. "Although important for many good reasons, ASL did not emerge as a high priority for funding according to these criteria. It is not required for any undergraduate or graduate degree programs, and it did not seem integral to faculty research in any department."

That says more about the lack of faculty research into Deafness and disability than it does about ASL, the country's third most widely used language.

To my knowledge Brown is the only Ivy League institution that offers ASL. If this goes through, ASL will be shut out entirely from the most prestigious group of univestities in the country, and arguably the world (insert gratuitous Bush**/dunce joke here :-) )

[Ilsa]

1. Shit. It's just oa matter of time before

govt and institutions find a way to kill IDEA and other help for children with disabilities. It'll be easy for them; they say they can't find any teachers with ASL skills.

[pop goes the weasel]

2. So the Ivies will let the community colleges lead...

What wads.

ASL is the fastest growing language elective in the country. Sign has uses far beyond the deaf community, opening language to a variety of people with cognitive and physical impairments. It is a vital language in the study of linguistics, receiving a large amount of scholarly focus in the past couple of decades. If no one at Brown is doing research involving ASL, then Brown's administration should be complaining about that, not closing down a program that its faculty are too antiquated to put to use.

[loyalsister]

3. ONE decent thing happening in Missouri

HB530 Allows students taking courses in American Sign Language to receive foreign language academic credit.
http://www.house.state.mo.us/bills051/bills/hb530.htm

I think this bill is going to pass. It has passed the House, and I have lined up several Republican votes.

It should get more interpretors into the community, and encourage people to value the language more. I hope so anyway.
I also hope that it will give more people who are deaf opportunities in education. The second language requirement has been an unnecessary barrier to educational opportunity for a very long time. This should help with that.