Students question decision to discontinue Swahili course

When a group of students approached Associate Dean of the College Hank Dobin last spring to propose a course in Swahili, no one expected it would spark controversy between students and administrators.

But when Dasheeda Dawson '00 found out that the student-initiated seminar — offered for the first time this year through the African-American studies program — would not be offered next year, she decided to make her and several of her peers' agitation clear to the administration.

Dawson sent an e-mail to Dobin and President Shapiro expressing her concern over what she said was "a disgrace to the school's reputation." In her e-mail, Dawson argued that a lack of recognition for minorities exists at the University.

"Is it that the administration is saying that there is no room for an African language course?" she asked. "We all pay tuition to attend this school. It is already difficult to get and keep good African-American or minority faculty members. And finally we have one that wants to continue with a popular course among AAS students, and the administration basically is saying, 'freak you!' This is unacceptable."

Dawson demanded a meeting to discuss the situation. "I and other students are not going to sit down quietly and watch it unfold in front of us without saying anything," she said.

Gordon Hallman '02 — one of the students included on an informal list of students interested in taking the class compiled by Misha Charles '01 — agreed with Dawson that the situation reflected the University's lack of interest in minority studies. "I really did not understand why the course was not being offered," he said.

University Response

Dobin yesterday defended the University's decision, saying that much of the students' indignation is misplaced. "There were certain conditions and limitations that we had agreed on," he said. "There was a very clear understanding before we agreed to offer the course that there was not going to be any commitment beyond the first year."

Dobin also noted that teaching a one-year Swahili course without offering subsequent, more advanced classes could be problematic. "In a language course, students are not going to get that far in one year," he added. "Pedagogically, this is not a model that we would want to continue to follow."

Dobin also cited financial reasons for not continuing to offer the course. "Because we do not have regular faculty members teaching these languages, we have to hire teachers on a per-course basis. It represents a significant cost, because the course is funded through our own resources [in the Office of the Dean of the College]," he said.

Dawson said she was not aware of the conditions that Dobin cited. "There was no explanation offered to us as to why the course was not being offered," she said. "The administration does not talk well with the students. We always hear things secondhand."

"The main point of my e-mail was not to be angry but to bring about a sense of urgency," she added. "I wanted to set up a meeting right away so we could get some explanations."

Jon Kennedy '03, another student who had planned to sign up for the course, said he was disappointed the course will not be offered. "I definitely think that there should be as many language courses as possible," he said. "But because Princeton is a fairly small school, situations like this are bound to happen."

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Though Kennedy believes that the points Dawson raised in her e-mail are valid, he said "it is a difficult claim to make and would require further investigation."

According to Dobin, the University is making an effort to expand the curriculum to include more foreign language courses. "We're in the process of experimenting with new video technology that would allow students to participate in a class being taught 50 miles away," he said. "A professor could be teaching a foreign language course at the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton students could take the class simultaneously through live video conferencing."

"We're still in the preliminary stages, but we're hoping over time to offer a sustained relationship with Penn where we could reciprocally help each other," Dobin added.