At the beginning of Winter term, students studying Portuguese were shocked to learn that the LSA+/FSP to Salvador, Brazil, would not run in the fall of 2005. This cancellation has affected students' long-term academic plans, yet objections have been virtually ignored by the administration. More importantly, this announcement has deep implications for the future of the Portuguese program and reveals a great deal about Dartmouth's attitude towards ailing departments.
According to Kate Eklin '08, a student in Intensive Portuguese 3 who drew this matter to my attention, a significant portion of the Fall term information session for the Spanish off-campus program to Montevideo, Uruguay, was spent informing students of the plans of the Brazil LSA+/FSP to occur next fall. Professor Rodolfo Franconi, who ran the session, said that he "never told any student that we would have a program," but it was not made clear to students that there was even any doubt. Both the Off-Campus Programs website and brochure also indicated that the program would take place.
Eklin and I questioned administrators in both the department and in the Off-Campus Programs office, but all responsibility was pointed at Lenore Grenoble, the dean of humanities. Grenoble's statement indicated that the decision to cancel the program was made last summer, before the beginning of fall term. "Historically," she said, "we have been running the Brazil FSP every other year and have reverted to that model." If the program was cancelled last summer, why were students given the impression during Fall term that it would still occur?
The elimination of the LSA+/FSP has disrupted the arrangements of many students who were planning on pursuing study in Portuguese. Cara Foster '07 said, "I've been planning on doing a minor in Portuguese language and literatures. However, now I probably won't be able to do it, because I was planning on using the FSP courses to count towards the minor." In fact, 12 students have indicated interest in participating in the LSA+/FSP to Brazil, making questionable Grenoble's claim that "the offering is contingent on enrollment." In fact, only five students participated last year, meaning the program could only decrease in cost to the administration.
It is a great shame that an off-campus program, integral to the study of a language, will not be offered in Portuguese, considering that required class and drill time for this study totals to 13 hours per week. As Alicia Prieto '08 puts it, "I won't be able to even benefit from the effort that I put into the class." Although the department has suggested an alternate summer program to Brazil with the University of Iowa, this would be impossible for students who are on financial aid, and many cannot commit to an entire summer. Dartmouth's program is set to be offered again in the fall of 2006, but this is too late for many who need to determine their D-Plans at this point.
If Grenoble is correct that the LSA+/FSP was canceled last summer, students should have been told so from the outset. Instead, they were forced to react to the situation, and it has been extremely difficult to get any straight or consistent answers at all. Eklin had appointments with deans canceled when they learned of the subject of her inquiries, and found the process to be "fraught with red tape and bureaucracy." Overall, responses to student objections have been disorganized, contradictory and, above all, unclear, conveying the impression that there is more to this situation than is being publicly revealed.
Language programs are among the most outstanding of Dartmouth's academic opportunities, but the Portuguese program is at risk of serious deterioration in the future. The lack of a chair means the department has no single advocate. Multiple Portuguese students have, in fact, identified the program as their main reason for coming to Dartmouth, but now that Grenoble has decided to deny opportunities for the Portuguese program specifically, it is certain that fewer students will be attracted to studying this language.
The implications of the cancellation are more wide-reaching than this one department. The way administrators handled this situation is revealing in terms of Dartmouth's attitude towards ailing departments. When a department appears to be suffering, the deans' solution is apparently to abandon it. The cancellation of the Portuguese LSA+/FSP is an issue that all students should worry about, because it shows arbitrariness, secrecy and lack of concern for students' opinions on the part of those administrators who make important decisions about the College's offerings. Administrators owe Dartmouth students a complete and thorough explanation of all decisions that affect student life, and academic cancellations rank as the most important of these decisions.
