Students Demand Prioritization of Language Program at UCSC (3/8)

Students Demand Prioritization of Language Program at UCSC
March 8 Rally to Call for Permanent Language Funding, Support and Diversity

SANTA CRUZ, CA – Students will be holding a lively rally on Wednesday, March 8 from 1:30-2:30 PM, in front of the Kresge Town Hall. UC Santa Cruz’s Language Program has been reduced to a bare-minimum of what is necessary in a global community, forcing students to organize, demanding the prioritization of languages as part of efforts to diversify the campus.

Amidst Chancellor Denice Denton’s “commitment to diversity,” reports of skyrocketing tuition and administrative perks, and plans to dramatically expand the campus, hundreds of students are finding themselves unable to access their needed language classes each quarter. After decades of broken promises by administrators, concerned students under the name ‘Save Our Languages’ (SOL) have initiated efforts to permanently prioritize the language program as a cornerstone of any educational institution.

Students began organizing after rumors that the financially strapped Language Program was threatened with a 20% budget cut for the second year in a row. This would have cut more than half of UCSC’s languages (incl. Arabic and Chinese, vital languages in today’s world), or halved the wildly popular Spanish program. After receiving more than 4,000 signatures (apprx. 25% of the campus) in less than 2 days, administrators backtracked, claiming it was “just a mistake.”

Supporters complain that UCSC is the only UC without a General Education language requirement, that the program does not receive consistent central funding independent from other programs (leaving the program consistently vulnerable to cuts), and that language classes are the most impacted on campus. There are also complaints about the lack of language diversity – such as the absence of African languages, Tagalog for the significant Filipino community, and sign language, to name a few. Furthermore, current instructors are far over-worked, yet receive little job security and disrespectful salaries. Despite all this, UCSC’s Language Program receives rave reviews for the quality of instruction.

Supporters claim that administrators are out of touch with the needs of students and workers, making insensitive decisions, bloating their own salaries, and drastically harming the education of the State of California.

The Save Our Languages Rally will be held Wednesday, March 8 from 1:30pm to 2:30pm outside the UC Santa Cruz Academic Senate meeting at Kresge Town Hall. Press attendance is strongly encouraged. Contact SOL’s press team for more info.