Syracuse University has some curriculum catching-up to do. Our university does not accept American Sign Language to fulfill its foreign language requirement. The point of learning a language is to communicate with more people. So, what about those who are deaf or hard of hearing?

Mike Mazzaroppi, Accessibility Counselor and ASL instructor at SU first taught at Onondaga Community College. OCC offers 15 to 20 classes on ASL from level 1 all the way to level 6 every semester, and also offers classes on figure spelling and deaf culture. There’s even an ASL minor.

SU offers classes that contract to the community college.

“SU only offers, at most that I have seen, it’s four classes in the semester. I don’t think they offer any in the summer, and it’s usually three level one and only one level two,” he said.

OCC is not an outlier. About 200 universities across the country accept ASL in fulfillment of graduation. SU is not one. Interestingly, 10 SUNY schools, including Albany, Buffalo, Oswego and more all make the list.

“Normally, that wouldn’t really be a big thing I guess, except for the fact that SU prides itself on being inclusive and progressive,” Mazzaroppi said. “If you think about it, they have a disability studies program, a disabilities culture central and yet, ASL is not the language that they promote, which kind of contradicts everything, in my opinion.”

This disparity is the most upsetting in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication, where majors in the school can’t fulfill their foreign language requirement by learning how to communicate to the deaf and hard of hearing.

“We go by the rules of what is offered at the foreign language department. So right now, because sign language is not a foreign language, we do not accept that as a foreign language,” said Suzanne Maguire, director of undergraduate advising and the records office at Newhouse. However, Maguire would like to see some change.

Maguire and Mazzaroppi both said last year there was talk of making sign language count as a foreign language, but no formal policy change has been made.

What is needed now is to go through the curriculum process.

“I think it would probably be a vote from the university. Who votes and makes those decisions? Faculty. I am not a faculty member,” Maguire added when it comes to moving the curriculum forward. “I particularly hope that will change. It’s a language.”

When asked how to make the world outside of SU more inclusive, Mazzaroppi’s response was swift. “Making ASL the language. ASL would be the gateway to more inclusiveness.”

The lack of consistent curriculum between instructors in conjunction with the absence of a variety of ASL classes speaks volumes. It undoubtedly contradicts the university’s pride in “diversity and inclusion.” SU must uphold its inclusivity and diversity promises by prioritizing deaf people with an ASL curriculum.

Published on March 3, 2020 at 9:16 pm