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--></style><title>Re: Florida: Calling All Deaf
Advocates!</title></head><body>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Addressing the Faculty Senate (or its committees) means
understanding their reasoning.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Academic credit for ASL is a done deal.</div>
<div>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</div>
<div>http://www.unm.edu/~wilcox/ASLFL/asl_fl.html</div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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. </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>What arguments are being offered against ASL?</div>
<div>Besides Theresa Smith's very wise categories that might be
concerning the UCF faculty (repeated here):</div>
<ul>
<li>scientific question ("Is ASL truly a language?"),
<li>a curricular question ("Does ASL satisfy the curricular goals
for requiring a foreign language?")
<li>an internal political one ("What are the implications for the
French department if ASL is recognized and accepted?")</ul>
<div><br></div>
<div>I'd add one more which has been alluded to:</div>
<div> * 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?")</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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.
</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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).
</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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.</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>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). </div>
<div><br></div>
<div> -- Nancy</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>At 2:14 PM -0500 2/19/04, Alysse Rasmussen wrote:</div>
<div>Calling All Deaf Advocates!</div>
<div>UCF ASL Professors Need Help</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thursday, February 26th, 2004</div>
<div>4:00 PM</div>
<div>University of Central Florida</div>
<div>Student Union</div>
<div>Key West Room</div>
<div>Orlando, Florida</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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".</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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!"</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>WHERE?</div>
<div> </div>
<div>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: <a
href="http://www.ucf.edu/campusmap/">http://www.ucf.edu/campusmap/</a></div
>
<div> </div>
<div>The adddress is 4000 Central Florida Blvd. It is right off
434. Here is a map: <a
href=
"http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&countryid=250&addtohistory=&address=4000+Central+Florida+Blvd.&city=orlando+&state=fl&zipcode=&submit=Get+Map"><span
></span
>http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&countryid=250<span
></span
>&addtohistory=&address=4000+Central+Florida+Blvd.&city=o<span
></span>rlando+&state=fl&zipcode=&submit=Get+Map</a></div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thursday, February 26th, 2004</div>
<div>4:00 PM</div>
<div>University of Central Florida</div>
<div>Student Union</div>
<div>Key West Room</div>
<div>Orlando, Florida</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<x-sigsep><pre>--
</pre></x-sigsep>
<div>Nancy Frishberg +1 650.556.1948
nancyf@fishbird.com</div>
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