To the editor: We, the undersigned, as members of the Cornell community and as faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, are alarmed by the proposed changes to the language requirement for the College of Arts and Sciences suggested by the Curriculum Committee. These changes are wide-ranging and, in our opinion, dramatically antithetical to the mission of the College. For this reason, we believe that further discussion must be held that include the opinions of the many members of the faculty who oppose the proposed changes. We are unsettled not only by the changes themselves, but by the distinct lack of familiarity demonstrated in the document with the global mission of our classes. For as long as we have been teaching at Cornell, our classes reflect the dynamic interplay between language and culture. Long gone are the days — if there ever were — of teaching language simply through rote memorization, conjugated verbs and grammar lessons. Our classes introduce students not only to the language, literature and culture of the European home countries, but, and more importantly, to their historic diffusion across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Furthermore, we prepare students for their future in non-European areas of the world where the influx of peoples and cultures into the European context has radically altered the culture of the “home” countries. To say we do otherwise does a disservice to us, to how we teach and to how Cornell students learn. To be clear, we support curriculum redesign. At the same time, eleven credits form a cornerstone to linguistic and cultural competency that one would expect of any global citizen of the 21st century. Global citizenry surely means being able to function in the linguistic environment in which you are working, which in turn certainly requires more than two semesters in that language. Finally, we foresee a dramatic ripple effect from top to bottom with the language requirement as proposed — on graduate students, on undergraduates, on faculty. Hence our desire for further discussions in which we can lay out the details as to why eleven credits in a language remain fundamental for a Cornell curriculum today. This important issue concerns all of us within the Cornell community. That is why we feel that more time for informed discussions on these proposed changes is essential.
In solidarity,Prof. Ti Alkire, Romance studiesProf. Timothy Campbell, Romance studiesProf. Liliana Colanzi, Romance studiesProf. Flavien Glidja, Romance studiesProf. Mitchell Greenberg, Romance studiesProf. Patricia Keller, Romance studiesProf. Cecilia Lawless, Romance studiesProf. Shawn McDaniel, Romance studiesProf. Magali Molinie, Romance studiesProf. Mary Kay Redmond, Romance studiesProf. Edmundo Paz-Soldan, Romance studiesProf. Kora von Wittelsbach, Romance studiesProf. Flaminia Cervesi, Romance studiesProf. Cynthia Robinson, Mary Donlon Alger Professor of Medieval and Islamic ArtProf. Karen Pinkus, Romance studiesProf. Diego Arias-Fuentes, Romance studiesProf. Irene Eibenstein-Alvisi, Romance studiesProf. Thierry Toréa, Romance studiesProf. Valentina Fulginiti, Romance studiesProf. Michela Baraldi, Romance studiesProf. Tomás Beviá, Romance studiesProf. Damien Tissot, Romance studiesProf. Simone Pinet, Romance studiesProf. Kathleen Long, Romance studiesProf. Itziar Rodriguez de Rivera, Romance studiesProf. Brisa Teutli, Romance studiesProf. Alisa Linarejos, Romance studiesProf. Estela Bartol-Martin, Romance studiesProf. Julia Chang, Romance studiesProf. Mónica Beviá, Romance studiesProf. Sturt Manning, Goldwin Smith Professor of Classical ArchaeologyProf. Esperanza Godoy Luque, Romance studiesProf. Verity Platt, classicsProf. Alan J. Nussbaum, classicsProf. Michael Fontaine, classicsProf. Andrew Moisey, artProf. Athena Kirk, classicsProf. Enzo Traverso, historyProf. Caitlín Barrett, classicsProf. Claire Menard, Romance studiesProf. Courtney Roby, classicsProf. Pedro Erber, Romance studiesProf. Leslie A. Adelson, Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of German StudiesProf. Jonathan Culler, Class of 1916 Professor of EnglishProf. Tamara Loos, historyProf. Barry Strauss, Bryce and Edith M. Bowmar Professor in Humanistic StudiesProf. Ekaterina Pirozhenko, assistant dean of academic advising, College of Arts and SciencesProf. Gunhild Lischke, German studiesProf. Brett de Bary, Asian studiesProf. Daniel Boucher, religious studiesProf. Daniel Gold, religious studiesProf. Anne M. Blackburn, Asian studiesProf. Stephanie Divo, Asian studiesProf. Tim Murray, comparative literature and EnglishProf. Naoki Sakai, Goldwin Smith Professor of Asian StudiesCatherine Kempf, staff, Romance studiesProf. Masha Raskolnikov, Romance studiesProf. Ewa Bachminska, Romance studiesProf. Rebecca Slayton, science and technology studiesProf. Eric Rebillard, classicsProf. Nelson G. Hairston, Jr., Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Environmental ScienceProf. Susan Tarrow, Romance studiesProf. Jonathan Monroe, comparative literatureProf. Ross Brann, Near Eastern studiesProf. Kim Haines-Eitzen, Near Eastern studiesProf. Marie-Claire Vallois, Romance studiesProf. Neil Saccamano, EnglishProf. Wayles Browne, linguisticsProf. Alison Power, ecology and evolutionary biologyProf. Anette Schwarz, German studiesProf. Thomas D. Hill, English and medieval studiesProf. Nava Scharf, Near Eastern studiesProf. Maria Theresa C. Savella, Asian studiesProf. Geraldine Monterroso, Romance studiesProf. Alejandro Madrid, musicProf. Shalom Shoer, Jewish studiesProf. Paul Fleming, German studiesProf. Douglas D. Heckathorn, sociologyProf. Jura Oliveira, Romance studiesProf. Silvia Amigo-Silvestre, Romance studiesProf. Makda Weatherspoon, Near Eastern studiesProf. Jane-Marie Law, Religious studiesProf. Misa Suzuki, Asian studiesProf. Misako Chapman, Asian studiesProf. Sara Pritchard, science and technology studiesProf. Rui Liu, food scienceProf. Sreemati Mukherjee, Asian studiesProf. Philip Lorenz, EnglishProf. Deborah Starr, Near Eastern studies
