The College Senate has begun formal discussions over a proposal to count American Sign Language as credit toward the college’s foreign language requirement.
The proposal is in consideration after a petition was created by childhood/special education major senior Stephanie Pearl. The concept has now gone through its first reading in the Senate and is onto its second, which is on Nov. 27, according to Pearl.
“The first reading went smoothly. There were some basic questions but there didn’t seem to be any opposition,” associate professor of education Doug Mackenzie, who teaches ASL at Geneseo, said. “So, I’m encouraged by that. There is still another reading to go and we have to wait for that to determine whether it will go through or not, but there doesn’t seem to be any major opposition from my perspective based on the meetings I’ve attended.”
The major challenge in getting this policy passed has been the Languages and Literature Department, according to Pearl. The department feels as though ASL is not a foreign language and allowing it to count as credit toward the requirement may lead to it pulling from other programs, or there may not be any interest in it at all.
“The one department that’s a little bit iffy about it is the Languages Department, partially because they don’t fully recognize it as language,” Pearl said. “They kind of foresee issues in the future with staffing and just maybe people not wanting to take French and Spanish and whatever other languages they offer because they want to take sign language.”
The issue of whether or not ASL is a foreign language is a much-discussed topic. It turns out it is not actually related to English or any other spoken language as many believe. It’s most related to French sign language, according to Mackenzie.
“Sixty-five to 75 percent of the signs we use today in ASL come directly from French sign language,” Mackenzie said. “Many argue that ASL does not have a written component, well, it does not have a written component like other foreign languages, but there is deaf literature, it just happens to be done through the visual medium.”
Others believe the major challenge to proceeding further is ensuring that professors are invited to expand the ASL program if it is to count toward the foreign language requirement.
“Right now, the main issue is how limited the amount of classes we have available are, I know ASL has been more and more popular,” Student Association Vice President Adam Hansen said. “The current problem that a lot of faculty members are facing, that we’re currently facing in the Student Association, is making sure we have enough sections that are being taught to accommodate this.”
Some students seem to want to learn more about ASL not just as a language, but as a culture.
“The culture is something that students were not aware of coming into Geneseo,” Mackenzie said. “They were aware of sign language ... but they were not aware of the culture and how some of the beliefs and values of the deaf community are very different from the beliefs and values of the mainstream hearing population, and this is often very enlightening to students.”
Rochester, N.Y. holds one of the largest deaf communities in the country, according to Mackenzie. Mackenzie also explained that linguistics majors and education majors both find ASL useful since it can be used to communicate with non-verbal students.
Students want the proposal to pass, as they feel it would be beneficial to students in and out of the deaf community
Geography major freshman Nicole Ruiz feels as though the proposal is beneficial.
“[This is] especially because Geneseo puts emphasis on the fact that it’s an all-inclusive campus so I feel like that would be beneficiary,” Ruiz said.
Students, such as elementary special education major freshman Aeryn Massenza, think that it should be considered a foreign language and that it should be learned and taught at the school as a large community of people in the country use it to communicate.
“I feel like if a large community of people use it, then it should be something that we share, and I think it should be considered as a foreign language, because it’s like if you hear somebody in the street speaking Spanish, and they need help, then you would help them if you know Spanish, because a large community of people in America speak Spanish,” Massenza said. “And there’s a large deaf community in America and if they need help and you can’t help them, it’s a problem.”