Keep UM German program

The chairs and directors of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Maine strongly disagree with the associate vice president for academic affairs’ recommendation to begin the process leading to the eventual elimination of the German Major Program at UMaine. The university’s own recently adopted Strategic Plan clearly states that the “University needs to encompass an international dimension, with Liberal Arts … being especially suited to “internationalization” of the curriculum.” The plan also claims that the university will “expand its role and effectiveness as the state’s largest preparer of teachers and provider of advanced and continuing professional development for teachers and administrators.”

Furthermore, the document makes the claim that Maine is “a portal for U.S.-European commerce and exchange in its broadest definitions.” In light of these commitments, we fail to understand how the University of Maine can properly serve the people of Maine by eliminating the UMaine System’s only German Major Program.

German is the language of 100 million Europeans and the primary language of trade for central and eastern Europe. After English, German is the primary language of scientific research and the third most commonly used language on the World Wide Web after English and Japanese. In fact, 13 million eastern Europeans are learning German and not English as their second language. In the United States, all 50 flagship universities and all other major universities and colleges have strong and vibrant German Major Programs. In Maine, German is presently taught at 35 Maine high schools to more than 1,600 students, and three new programs are currently being implemented.

More than 1,000 German companies have subsidiaries in the United States. These companies are continually seeking bilingual employees, and this includes the Bangor area (Lemforder and Osram-Sylvania, as well as H. E. Sargent are three good examples). Since tourism is a major sector of Maine’s economy, it needs to be noted that the largest number of foreign tourists, excluding Canadians, to the state of Maine are German and Japanese.

The elimination of the German major will have a serious impact on language programs statewide and on many university programs as well. At present, 20 percent to 30 percent of all UMaine students who study abroad do so through the German Program in Salzburg. The robust International Affairs major has recently been accredited, and plans for a Master’s Program in Teaching German are being developed. Elimination of the German major will adversely affect these programs, both of which promise to contribute in important ways to the state’s educational and business climate.

We are concerned by the associate vice president’s statement that the German program has small enrollments, since the facts speak to the contrary. There are currently 17 German majors and double majors (seven are International Affairs majors whose major language is German), eight Modern Language majors with German emphasis, and 16 German minors. We are likewise dismayed by his assertions that the German Major offers “limited potential for growth” and is “neither central to the university’s academic mission nor responding to clear educational or economic needs of the State of Maine.” If the study of modern language and culture is not central to the mission of the modern university, then one might well wonder what is.

In light of these facts, we stress in the strongest possible terms the need for a formal retraction of the action initiated by the associate vice president and a correction of the inaccuracies contained in his public statements.

This commentary was written by the following chairs and directors of UMaine’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: Laurie Hicks, Theater; Douglas Allen, Philosophy; William TeBrake, History; Tony Brinkley, English; Nancy E. Hall, Communication Sciences and Disorders; Jim Linehan, Art; James Moreira, Anthropology/Maine Folklife Center; Laura Lindenfeld, Project Mainstay; Ann Schonberger, Women in the Curriculum, Women’s Studies; Chris Mares, Intensive English Institute; Barbara Cole, Chemistry; Susan R. McKay, Physics and Astronomy; Gail Dana Sockabasin, Wabanaki Center.