Florida: Calling All Deaf Advocates!

[Dan Parvaz]

 From the UCF undergraduate handbook:

Foreign Language Proficiency Requirement
(Bachelor of Arts Degree)

Students graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree must demonstrate
proficiency in a foreign language equivalent to one year of college
instruction. This requirement may be met either by successful
completion of the appropriate college-level course or by examination.
Languages that may be used include those taught at UCF and any others
for which the University can obtain standardized proficiency tests.
Students who have previously received a baccalaureate degree are exempt
from this requirement.

The implication, at least, is that any (a) language for which (b) a
standardized test may be found (SCPI, ASL-PI, etc.) should qualify. The
curricular and political questions, as outlined by Theresa, are almost
certainly where the sticking points are.

The Mission of UCF, inasmuch as mission statements mean anything,
includes the following bit of highfalutin rhetoric:

The University of Central Florida is a public, multi-campus,
metropolitan research university, dedicated to serving its surrounding
communities with their diverse and expanding populations

Which leaves room to debate whether or not relegating a language used
and needed by the "surrounding communities" to second-class status
helps further their mission. As members of said communities, comments
from the Deaf might be relevant. I do not think, however, that they
will be persuasive.

Sigh. Once more into the breach...

-Dan.
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