UPDATED: Oct. 2, 2018 at 7:04 p.m.

Student Association President Ghufran Salih on Monday announced the organization’s push to make American Sign Language a recognized language on the Syracuse University campus.

University recognition would allow ASL to be an option for the language class requirement in all schools and college, said SA Vice President Kyle Rosenblum. The School of Education is currently the only school at SU that recognizes ASL.  

SA leaders are working on a report to help the university recognize ASL. The report will compare the university’s ASL policies to several peer institutions.

“This is such an important issue,” Salih said in an interview after Monday’s meeting. “American Sign Language is so widely used on our campus in all of the events, it’s such an important aspect of accessibility. The fact that it is not recognized in every school besides the School of Education is not right, and it needs to be fixed.”

Before the leaders begin work on the report, they will be talking to faculty who teach ASL and students taking ASL courses, Rosenblum said. He added that he and Salih don’t want to move forward unless these students and faculty are on board with the plan.

Rosenblum said the group will then create a petition to gauge support for the idea. If it gains 250 student signatures, the organization will move forward with the report.

The report will include the policies of 10 SU peer institutions, SU community members’ thoughts on why ASL should be a recognized language and possible steps the university could take to recognize ASL, Salih said.  

Salih added that the organization will conduct research on Gallaudet University, a school in Washington, D.C. for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Along with official university recognition, SA’s goal is to create an ASL major, minor and/or certificate program, Salih added. They hope to be able to train students in these programs at various events across campus.

“If we are able to train ASL interpreters or people who just want to take ASL in general, and they’re able to put that into practice at events, that would be amazing,” Salih said.  

Other business

• Work is still being done on the Euclid Shuttle, with a budget approved at $50,000.

• Multiple committees within SA have openings, including the Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Education committee, Pronouns committee, Department of Public Safety committee and Communications committee.

• SA held elections for the Administrative Operations committee and Alumni Board representative. Josh Shub-Seltzer is the new Alumni Board representative, and the new members of the Administrative Operations committee include:
  • Josh Shub-Seltzer
  • Lilly Umana
  • Alex Keegan
  • Gary King
  • Ryan Golden
  • John Jankovic

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the number of signatures needed on the ASL petition was misstated. The petition needs 250 signatures to move forward. The Daily Orange regrets this error. 

Published on October 2, 2018 at 12:53 am

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu