Florida: Calling All Deaf Advocates!

Fri Feb 20 16:22:46 UTC 2004

Thanks so much for these insights.  I will pass them on.

I teach at a local community college that "feeds" into UCF.  Several of the
other instructors at my college also teach ASL at UCF.  So we all try to
support each other.  (Nice to pull together professionally, isn't it?).

In spite of that, I don't know all that much about their program :(  I do
know that they've been teaching ASL, for credit, at UCF for a number of years.
THAT was a real battle, but they dug their heels in and won :)

Now the biggest problem seems to be getting the Faculty Senate to expand the
scope (ASL isn't JUST for education majors, kind of thing :)

I think you hit the nail right on the head when you identified "politics" as
the biggest "fear factor".

Thanks for you support and info!

Alysse
In a message dated 2/20/2004 10:48:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
nancyf at FISHBIRD.COM writes:
I have in the past (like many others on this list) made formal arguments in
favor of giving university level credit for ASL (or other sign languages)
before the Academic Senate, the Curriculum Committee or other august bodies,
depending on the university.

Addressing the Faculty Senate (or its committees) means understanding their
reasoning.

Academic credit for ASL is a done deal.
The repeated need for these arguments is precisely what drove Sherman Wilcox
to edit the book "Academic Acceptance of American Sign Language" (Linstok
Press, 1992) and create the website
http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox/ASLFL/asl_fl.html
Sherman has written several articles, including one which appeared in the
Chronicle of Higher Education in 1991 or 1992 (and may be one of those now
archived at ERIC).  He doesn't read SLLING-L, but you can contact him directly.

The book is unfortunately now out of print, but enlist your librarians to get
a copy ASAP through inter-library loan.  It addresses the most frequent
arguments offered against ASL (is it foreign? is there a distinct culture to teach?
what about the literature component? is ASL processed like another language
cognitively? and probably several questions you or the faculty at UCF haven't
thought to ask).  Among the authors are several people who don't "know" ASL,
but are recognized scholars who support academic studies in ASL.

And I often remind myself that universities are medieval institutions:  they
don't like to change much.  So letting UCF know that they are joining a long
list of respectable and respected institutions may reassure a lot of them.

What arguments are being offered against ASL?
Besides Theresa Smith's very wise categories that might be concerning the UCF
faculty (repeated here):
scientific question ("Is ASL truly a language?"),
a curricular question ("Does ASL satisfy the curricular goals for requiring a
foreign language?")
an internal political one ("What are the implications for the French
department if ASL is recognized and accepted?")

I'd add one more which has been alluded to:
   * a quality and standards question ("Do we have the ability to judge the
quality of the program or the individuals who are teaching in it?  How shall we
assure that students who are complete courses or stand for examination meet
the standards of university level work?")

This last question is purely pragmatic, and would not prevent the University
from recognizing ASL.  I wouldn't bring it up until they bring it up, but I'd
be prepared for it as the terms of the discussion change. The UCF faculty
could decide in principle to accept ASL as a language and then refuse to hire
anyone to teach it, because they couldn't find a "qualified" candidate pool.

The way that Universities manage quality and standards questions in the other
departments is by the widely recognized degrees and publications system.
Doctorates are the entry ticket for University faculty status, and the more
"serious" a university wants to be, the higher proportion of its faculty must hold
this terminal degree (Ph.D,  Ed.D. or the European equivalents).

Notice that the internal political argument above also has an economic
component.  The university wants to offer courses which students will pay money to
take.  The French department (or substitute your favorite other foreign
language) wants to make sure the enrollments continue at the undergraduate level in
their courses so they can continue to offer the graduate programs (and spend
time on research).  ASL (and Deaf Studies) must present themselves as
economically viable, and bringing in new populations to language study, rather than
poaching from the existing language departments.

While I believe the discussion here is about undergraduate credit, I have
also examined candidates (in graduate programs) who presented themselves for a
"reading" language qualification, much as I had to present French as a reading
language (and pass the College Board's exam at some minimum level).  (I'm not
fluent in French, but I can gather the main meaning in texts aimed at my
specialized topics, and it's to this standard that I have held the graduate students
who wanted ASL competency recognition).

 -- Nancy

At 2:14 PM -0500 2/19/04, Alysse Rasmussen wrote:
Calling All Deaf Advocates!
UCF ASL Professors Need Help

Thursday, February 26th, 2004
4:00 PM
University of Central Florida
Student Union
Key West Room
Orlando, Florida

UCF offers 84 BA programs, 64 MA programs, 23 PhD programs and yet still
refuses to recognize ASL for exit credit in spite of recent legislation.  You can
help change this.  Just come to UCF for ONE hour on Thursday, February 26th,
and tell the Faculty Senate how you feel.

On February 26th at 4:00 PM the UCF Faculty Senate will vote, once again, on
whether or not ASL (American Sign Language) will be allowed to satisfy the
foreign language graduate requirement.

This is very important for members of the Deaf community.  If ASL is not
accepted, the quality of signers and services will remain poor.  Students who
might elect to take ASL to fulfill a foreign language requirement will be forced
to take other languages.  They will never learn about the beauty and artistry
of ASL.  They will never learn about Deaf people.  They will continue to
believe "Deaf people can't".

If ASL is accepted, the program will grow.  Qualified signers, interpreters,
and professionals, who are aware of what ASL means to the Deaf community, will
be able to get the kind of professional scholarship they need to help ALL
Deaf people succeed.  They will know "Deaf people can do anything!"

In spite of the passage of state legislation mandating ASL as a FULL and TRUE
foreign language, there is a great deal of Faculty Senate opposition to this
issue.

If you are a Deaf person or someone who wishes to support Deaf people, please
attend this meeting and support this vote.  This is VERY important for
everyone who is a member of the Deaf community.  Please tell all your friends.
Please come help.  Your presence will make all the difference.  If the Faculty
Senate sees that Deaf people really exist -- and care about the quality of
interpreters and signers -- they will do the right thing.

WHERE?

UCF is set up like a wagon wheel.  The Student Union is the center "hub" of
the campus.  It is in the middle of the campus.  Here is a map:
http://www.ucf.edu/campusmap/

The adddress is 4000 Central Florida Blvd.  It is right off 434.  Here is a
map:
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&countryid=250&addtohistory=&address=4000+Central+Florida+Blvd.&city=orlando+&state=fl&zipcode=&submit=Ge
t+Map

Thursday, February 26th, 2004
4:00 PM
University of Central Florida
Student Union
Key West Room
Orlando, Florida

--

Nancy Frishberg  +1 650.556.1948  nancyf at fishbird.com
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