Dear Wesleyan Students and Staff,
It has recently been announced that the Korean language program will be discontinued next year. As concerned students past, present and future of the program, we wish to express our extreme displeasure and regret regarding this decision. This is a top-down decision, and the reasons for this change have not been revealed to the students.
We have thus decided to appeal against the decision on two bases:
1. That this decision is a flagrant insult to the University as an institution, established in the spirit of liberal arts and diversity.
2. That this decision shows blatant disrespect to Professor Hyejoo Back, the Korean language program and all of the students interested in Korean.
This semester, President Michael Roth and the board members identified five key themes for the future direction of the University. Included in these were “internationalization” and “strengthening the undergraduate experience.” The decision to cut the Korean program is congruent to neither of these themes. In fact, as an academic institution that claims to be on the forefront of liberal arts, it is an intellectual failure to discontinue a long-standing language program. As an institution that takes pride in diversity and the respect of intellectual pursuits, such a decision displaying disrespect for knowledge is nothing short of a disgrace.
We understand that, despite its ideals, the University has financial and resource constraints. The Korean language program, as compared to the Chinese or Japanese language programs, is not in high demand and thus categorized as a Less Commonly Taught Language. Still, there is and forever has been a sufficient demand for the Korean language program. In Fall ’07, there were 11 students enrolled in the Elementary Korean class with Professor Back. Also, there were a few students taking an upper-level tutorial in Korean under the supervision of Professor Back (which she willingly did without extra pay). Each and every student that takes Korean classes (elementary or tutorial) pays full tuition and earns full course credits. It thus baffles us that the lack of demand, and thus the lack of financial (tuition) justification for the program, is the reason for the discontinuation of Korean program.
In addition, we are strongly displeased by the way the University is treating Professor Back. According to our knowledge, Professor Back was invited to Wesleyan to teach the Elementary Korean class and was told that the University had plans to expand the Korean program. Professor Back kindly offered to teach the upper-level tutorial on Korean pro bono for the entire year, outside of her scope as professor of Elementary Korean class. She even told us that she offered to teach the Korean class next year without pay. That is how strong her passion is in teaching Korean language. However, what we have been seeing is that the University does not appreciate the services of Professor Back and is not fulfilling its promises of expanding the Korean program. This is not how a respected academic institution should treat a professor.
The University’s decision simply provides further evidence that a university that strives towards a liberal arts education continues to fail in its mission. We strongly urge those who share like-minded views and wish to support the Korean language program to sign our petition (during lunch on Thursday and Friday in Usdan) and speak with President Roth, deans and provosts. If the University is to “internationalize” and “strengthen the undergraduate experience,” it is necessary to promote and support programs that do so, such as Korean language. Thank you for your support and time.
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