Many prominent colleges and universities across the country are accepting American Sign Language in fulfillment of foreign language requirements. As a top-tier university, LSU should implement ASL courses into its curriculum as an accredited foreign language. Hopefully, you are asking yourself why the University doesn’t already have an ASL program.Your question is more likely whether ASL is its own language or just a signed form of English. In fact, it is its own language, separate and different from English.”American sign language is a complete and natural language,” according to William Vicars, professor of ASL and deaf studies at California State University.When discussing signing, it is important to realize there are many different sign communication systems. Signed English and American Sign Language are not the same thing. “Signed English is a visual communication system based on spoken English — it’s not a language but a communication system intended to visually represent English. ASL has its own grammar separate and distinct from English,” Vicars said.Vicars also runs the Web site Lifeprint, where he is more commonly known as Dr. Bill. Lifeprint is a guild to signing and even offers ASL courses.  So ASL is its own language. The next thing one might think is a requirement for a foreign language is that it has to be foreign.Wrong again. Many universities teach Native American languages for foreign language credits. For this reason, many scholars now refer to the foreign language requirement a second language requirement instead of “foreign.” Even so, ASL is not rooted mainly in English. “Spoken English and signed English have their roots in England [whereas] ASL has its roots in France,” Vicars said.ASL is vastly more similar to French Sign Language than it is to British Sign Language. This is because a French professor, Laurent Clerc, was first to teach deaf American children sign language. Your next question should be about how ASL can be brought to the University.”It would require additional faculty fluent in the language [ASL] in order to provide the 3-5 course sequence needed,” said Wendy A. Jumonville, M.S., instructor in the Communication Disorders and Sciences Department. The University should not have a problem with this since the Louisiana School for the Deaf is right down the street. Jumonville is the manual communication instructor. She teaches the only class even remotely close to ASL that LSU offers. Manual communication, COMD 2051, is a survey class that reviews all forms of manual communication, rather than focusing solely on ASL. Students are taught sign vocabulary but use it in English word order.”As the instructor [of the manual communication class], I am not fluent in ASL. The history of the class began to introduce students to all forms of manual communication and also introduce information regarding the Deaf Culture” Jumonville said. “The Deaf population in Baton Rouge is large. Knowing ASL would be beneficial for communication with this culture. Any language offered … would be beneficial for the students who attend,” Jumonville said. For budget reasons, the University may be cutting some classes out of the current curriculum, but it should still offer a language used all around us every day. More than 150 other colleges and universities nationwide offer ASL as a second language.Not counting ASL as its own language is offensive and ignorant to the language and the population that uses it. The University should consider adding it to its course offerings.- – – -Contact Isabel Blum at [email protected]