Returning student Jim Evangelista’s plans to graduate with a bachelor of arts degree has changed, and it’s not because he changed his focus. It is because the University does not accept American Sign Language to satisfy the foreign language requirement.
Evangelista submitted a written petition to the University Academic Requirements Committee in the summer to allow him to use ASL to fulfill the University’s foreign language requirement. He was hoping to get approval, then begin taking the classes to satisfy the language requirement and obtain his degree in art therapy, he said. However, Evangelista has yet to receive a simple yes or no answer.
An Oregon state law passed in 1995 says that ASL classes “shall satisfy any second language elective requirement,” but the University does not recognize it at this time. It was this law that ASL program coordinators at Western Oregon University used to establish ASL as a recognized language and the one Evangelista used as a basis for his petition.
He said committee members told him that the Academic Requirements Committee was the right group to give his petition to. But he said Assistant Registrar Karen Duncan recently left a message on his answering machine telling him his petition was being tabled because that committee wasn’t the appropriate place for his petition.
“This really confused me,” Evangelista said. “I was frustrated when I heard this.”
University Academic Requirements Committee chairwoman Gail Unruh said the petition was not tabled. Instead, the committee decided that the issue went beyond one student, and they referred it to the University Undergraduate Council to consider the implications of the decision on the entire campus.
However, Undergraduate Council members said the council doesn’t rule on specific petitions — the Academic Requirement Committee does. According to the council’s governing rules, the council monitors and responds to “general academic policies” and identifies, develops and advocates “new and revised baccalaureate degree policies as appropriate.” Members said it does not act as a judicial body, but it could suggest policy changes, such as adding ASL as a language-fulfilling course.
University Registrar Herb Chereck could not comment on Evangelista’s specific petition, but he said the whole issue of allowing ASL to satisfy the foreign language requirement goes back to 1994, again with the University Undergraduate Council. He said a letter dated in March of 1994 written by then Provost Norman Wessells, states that after a lot of discussion, the Provost recommended ASL should not satisfy the requirements.
Chereck said the issue has once again been raised, and the Undergraduate Council was asked to review the policy again this year.
Alan Dickman, who sat on the Undergraduate Council in 1994, told the Emerald in June that council members agreed that ASL was an individual language, but members could not reach consensus on whether ASL possesses enough unique literary, historical and artistic markers to qualify it as a separate culture.
Evangelista said he thinks the University administration still doesn’t believe ASL has enough “culture” to warrant recognition. He disagrees, saying there is a deaf culture.
“The Spaniards have cultural markers, the French have cultural markers and the deaf have cultural markers,” he said.
Dr. Carl Falsgraf, director of the Oregon University System’s Center for Applied Japanese Language Studies, agrees with Evangelista, saying people who sign belong to a distinct culture with its own customs, rules and norms.
“Linguistic studies have described complex grammatical systems, inflections, accents, dialects and slang in sign languages,” he said.
Evangelista added ASL is “a beautiful, visual language” filled with emotion. He said by not making ASL a language, the University is falling short of its goal to offer a diverse education.
“Here is the flagship university of the state,” he said. “You’d think of all universities, this would be the one to do it.”
Undergraduate Council members added that the council will discuss the option of picking up ASL as a language in winter term, but cannot anticipate the outcome.
Evangelista said the academic offerings at the University are very strong, and he is very happy with his other course work. The University’s strength makes him believe even more that ASL should be recognized as fulfilling the language requirement.
To raise awareness of this issue, Evangelista is planning a public forum on campus that will take place in a few weeks. He is inviting speakers and all students to come and make their voices heard regarding the issue.
“To take a stand is very challenging, but I’m committed to fight for what I believe in my heart is right,” Evangelista said.