The Council on Academic Affairs opted to rescind the original foreign language requirement Thursday.

While some CAA members thought the requirement would not strengthen Eastern’s curriculum, CAA member Debra Reid thought it was Eastern’s time to take a leadership role among regional universities with the original requirement.

“There were pros not reported in the ad-hoc committee’s recommendation,” Reid said.

In a 9-3 decision, CAA rescinded the proposal that would have increased the foreign language requirement for all students from two semesters to three.

Initially, there was some confusion about what rescinding the proposal meant.

“I think the original proposal is dead,” CAA member Grant Sterling said. The rest of the committee concluded, with rescinding the proposal, the measure is squashed.

In April, CAA approved the original requirement.

President Bill Perry and Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, sent the proposal back to CAA for further consideration.

In response, CAA formed an ad-hoc committee to see if a university-wide foreign language increase was feasible.

The subcommittee determined the original proposal should be rescinded and a program-by-program review of foreign language proficiency should be conducted.

Reid said the ad-hoc committee’s report did not include some positive aspects of an increase in foreign language. She said data shows students achieve greater academic success with a requirement like the original one.

CAA member Les Hyder, who chaired the ad-hoc committee, said he initially supported the original proposal, but determined, at this point, it is best for Eastern to have an individual assessment of foreign language proficiency.

“In spite of its merit, this is something that needs to be implemented on an incremental basis,” he said.

CAA Chair Kathleen Bower said recruitment was the issue with the university-wide requirement. She added she favored the program-by-program review.

“It won’t adversely affect recruitment of our students,” Bower said.

CAA member Larry White, who served on the ad-hoc committee, said there are other ways for Eastern to strengthen its curriculum. He added an increase in foreign language has the same effect as an enhancement in math courses.

“By itself, it doesn’t have the strength.to enhance academic quality on campus,” White said.

CAA member Mary Harrington-Perry said 1990 was the last time Eastern implemented a unique proposal. She added the proposal was an enhanced general education program that resulted in large losses of transfer students.

It took years for Eastern to recoup those losses, Harrington-Perry said. She added Eastern ultimately revised the rare general education program.

CAA member Julie Campbell said the English department is a minimal example of how an increase in foreign language could help students. She said, as an English professor, students have told her foreign language classes have improved their English grammar.

Lord, who was out of town Thursday, issued a memorandum to CAA that expressed his reasoning for favoring a program-by-program assessment. Harrington-Perry spoke on Lord’s behalf at the meeting.

“The bottom line is the provost is concerned about academic quality,” she said.

Harrington-Perry added Lord was concerned that a university-wide requirement would have a negative influence on student recruitment.

Although numerous faculty members were in attendance, Bower decided to restrict comments to CAA members about rescinding the requirement. She said faculty, students and staff had ample opportunities for public comment on the issue before Thursday.

CAA member Lucia Schroeder, who also served on the ad-hoc committee, said the subcommittee had more research for its conclusion that was not included in the submitted report. “I feel, as a committee, we tried to represent our colleges,” she said.

In other business, CAA approved the proposal to encourage programs to conduct a program-by-program assessment of foreign language proficiency and cultural awareness. The item passed 11-1.

For the proposal, programs will have to submit its individual assessment to CAA by April 1, 2009. Some confusion existed about whether or not programs were required to conduct an assessment.

“They don’t have to give us a report,” Bower said.

Stephen Di Benedetto can be reached at 581-7942 or at sdibenedetto@eiu.edu.

Stephen Canfield, Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages, listens as the Council on Academic Affairs discusses rescinding his previously passed proposal requiring students to have three semesters of a foreign language, compared to the original two s

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