Molly Grosskreutz
A&E Assistant Editor
It’s that time of year again – registration for spring semester – and when course listings were posted I felt like a kid in a candy store. Call me academic, but I love perusing the long lists of class titles and course descriptions on VitNet. They make me feel so optimistic, and that next semester is full of possibility.
But despite this seeming smorgasbord of course options, there is one department that is noticeably lacking in course options: World Languages. Currently, there are four languages listed on Viterbo’s website: Spanish, Italian, French, and German. However, there are zero French and German classes being offered next semester, and a mere two introductory Italian courses. Spanish clearly is the privileged language at this university, with courses ranging from the 100 to 400 levels.
That’s great…if Spanish were the only language students were interested in taking. As a devoted French student myself, I find Viterbo’s lack of course offerings in other languages infinitely frustrating. I took French all through middle school and high school, and I am unable to continue my studies under the Viterbo banner. Instead, I must take upper-level French classes at UW-La Crosse, which gets complicated as far as scheduling, transportation, and communicating between both schools.
Many other students face similar problems. High school study of German, Italian, Chinese, Russian, French, Latin, or any other language instruction besides Spanish come to an abrupt dead-end at Viterbo. Not only must these students look elsewhere to continue refining their language skills, but they are also unable to receive retroactive credit directly through placement tests at Viterbo.
I know that Spanish is a very important language, especially with the ever-increasing Hispanic populations in the United States, but as a Franciscan institution that promotes values such as hospitality, service, and leadership, it would be nice if we built bridges to other places besides just Spanish-speaking countries.
