Last week, I learned that my spring Spanish elective, Hispanic Culture in the U.S., was canceled. Only eight students enrolled, and according to the Spanish department’s email to those eight students, the administration requires ten to run the class. The department requested an exemption, which was denied. By itself, my Spanish class being canceled would be unfortunate, but not the end of the world. However, my roommate is currently enrolled in an elective math class which is even smaller, with only five students. So I’m confused: Why is there a larger enrollment requirement for language classes?

Canceling this class hurts many students. Half of those enrolled were seniors and cannot take it later. The course looks at “the experience of Hispanic people from different countries” living in the U.S., a topic that has received minimal attention in other courses. It also fulfills the Diversity and Difference Core tag. This change is particularly frustrating for me personally. With decreasing course offerings, this was the best way for me to get the last three credits needed for my Spanish major. As a prehealth student, Spanish will be invaluable to my career, helping me communicate with Spanish-speaking patients and increasing my employability. My Spanish abilities are already useful in my job as a patient care tech in a hospital setting, where I routinely speak with patients. The workaround to fulfill these final credits requires retaking a capstone on a new topic, meaning redoing the capstone requirements, including writing a second capstone paper. Ironically, the only reason I need these credits, despite a semester abroad, AP credits, and many other Spanish courses, is because of the two-four credit switch.

This problem extends beyond the Spanish department: this is happening to languages overall. Four years ago, according to the 2020 course catalog, Calvin still offered majors in Chinese, Chinese Education, Dutch, German, and German Education, as well as five majors and tracks in Spanish and Spanish education, with a total of sixteen language majors and tracks. The catalog for 2024 lists five: Spanish, Spanish Education, French, French Education, and Netherlandic Studies. There were also eleven minors, compared to the paltry three currently. Now, if the language that interests you isn’t Spanish, French, or German, the most you can do is take an introductory class or two, assuming it fits your schedule. According to Workday’s course data, in Fall 2020, 38 language classes were offered (excluding independent studies), including a two-semester sequence of upper-level Chinese Readings on Society and Culture, an upper-level Readings in Greek course, and an intermediate course on Latin Prose. This fall, there are 21 classes, and most are 100- or 200-level.

Meanwhile, student interest in Spanish is growing. The department added several sections of SPAN 101 to accommodate increasing demand, and the number of dual enrollment students taking classes in the department has grown so much that entire sections of upper level classes are reserved for them. Why not harness this growth to present a wider variety of content? For example, from asking several of my friends and classmates, there are prehealth students who would be interested in a medical Spanish course. Instead, the administration has forced the language department time and time again to decrease their offerings counter to this increase in students. Meanwhile, professors are being discouraged — or outright forbidden — from offering independent studies, eliminating that work-around for students struggling to obtain credits they need for graduation. This inflexibility only exacerbates the problem, which is due at least in part to decisions the administration made in the first place, despite students’ protests: the two-four credit switch, change to core, and the number of required core classes. Instead of the rich offerings that the course catalog claims, now only one upper level class is offered in German and French each semester. If it doesn’t fit with your schedule. . . good luck. 

In a recent Chimes article about budget cuts at Calvin, Provost Toly stated “sometimes we have to add things, . . . subtract things, and reimagine them” and not “every program” can be “perpetually supported.” I do not disagree, but that is distinctly different from cutting classes for which there is student demand, which harms the student experience. Languages, along with other humanities departments subject to cuts in the past few years, are an essential part of a liberal arts education. Even the administration seems to agree with this, as they include it as a graduation requirement. At the top of the website, Calvin bills itself as a “Christian liberal arts university . . . known for academic excellence.” It might be more accurate to add a footnote: They used to be.