This commentary is by William Falls, dean of the Colleges of Arts & Sciences at the University of Vermont.
In an unprecedented decision, the University of West Virginia Board of Governors recently voted to eliminate all majors and minors in foreign languages. The cuts in these and other programs, courses and faculty were in response to university-wide enrollment declines and an associated budget deficit.
Sadly, the University of West Virginia is not alone. The Modern Language Association, a national organization dedicated to strengthening the study and teaching of language, has noted an ongoing decline in foreign language programs at U.S. universities since around 2009. In a single three-year period between 2013 and 2016, a total of 651 foreign language programs were cut nationwide.
UVM’s College of Arts and Sciences, which experienced similar enrollment declines and budget challenges in recent years, has chosen a different path. This fall, the College of Arts & Sckgiences doubled down on foreign languages via the inauguration of our new School of World Languages and Cultures. The school unites the former departments of Asian Languages & Literatures, Classics, German & Russian, and Romance Languages & Cultures into a single, purposeful unit highlighting and reinforcing the centrality of foreign language study in an ever-changing global economy.
By focusing on the extraordinary breadth of career opportunities afforded by a liberal arts education, the college has emerged from this challenge while maintaining its breadth of program offerings.
The school, which numbers 40 faculty, offers UVM students the opportunity for in-depth study in eight languages — Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish — as well as linguistics and the classics.
Faculty within the school are extraordinary scholars and dedicated teachers who not only teach students to speak and understand foreign languages, but also help them become knowledgeable about and sensitive to cultural differences by exploring the perspectives of people who speak other languages.
In the College of Art & Sciences at UVM, we agree with the assessment of the Modern Language Association that the de-emphasis on language study in higher education threatens our future as a thriving nation. They wrote, “Anyone interested in the long-term vitality and security of the United States should recognize that it will be detrimental for Americans to remain overwhelmingly monolingual and ill-informed about other parts of this increasingly interdependent world.”
Indeed, LinkedIn recently reported that communication skills and intercultural sensitivity were among the top five in-demand skills by employers. Both are essential outcomes of foreign language study. Not only is language study critical to a country’s economic success, but it also helps us understand what it is to be human and helps us develop empathy and understanding toward others.
The University of Vermont was recently named a Top 100 Research University, exceeding $250 million in research funding for a second consecutive year. Applications to the university have increased substantially and student interest in global education and experiences is ever-growing.
As the university continues to gain national and international prominence, foreign language study through the School of World Languages will assume an even greater role in UVM’s academic ecosystem.
