Tiger TV Online Reporter

Cuts are being made across the board at LSU, and the foreign language department is already feeling the effects.

According to Emily Batinski, department chair, 32 instructors in the foreign language department received letters stating their contracts would not be renewed in the spring 2011 semester. This does not include any of the French language instructors that might be cut because French is its own department.

If all 32 instructors were let go, drastic changes would have to be made to the languages being offered. The cuts could also affect the amount of courses in each language. Several languages could be cut completely including Japanese, Russian and Portuguese.

Other languages will be cut immensely. Italian will most likely go from offering 13 courses per semester to three courses per semester. Currently, Italian is a very popular language for students and fills every section each semester. German will only offer two courses per semester. Latin will offer three courses per semester, and the classical civilization class will most likely be cut completely.

The biggest change to the department would be the amount of beginner and intermediate courses offered.

“Our commitment is to the students currently majoring or minoring in one of the languages,” Batinski said.

The focus of the foreign language department is to maintain the upper level courses so students could meet all major requirements. Batinski said with the cuts it would even be impossible to teach any beginning level Spanish courses even though it is a popular language for students to take.

The cuts to the foreign language department could also affect the study abroad program. Batinski said it is possible that Tanzania and Germany might both be cut from the study abroad program because the instructors that are directors of study abroad for those countries are possibly facing being cut.

Batinski said it is important for all students to have the opportunity to study different languages even if it isn’t their major.

“For example if you’re a history major studying German history, it would make sense to take German language,” Batinski said.

Batinski said she feels it is important to offer languages that aren’t necessarily popular choices such as Hebrew or Swahili because it adds to the student experience.

“One thing that distinguishes a tier one university is the options students have to study,” Batinski said.