The ASL-English Interpretation major is one of the majors the Board of Trustees is expected to cut as part of a sweeping, historic overhaul of programs at the college aimed at curbing costs and addressing the $17 million financial deficit.
The board is scheduled to meet on Monday, Dec. 16 to review the recommendations of Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David to merge or cut one-third of its current programs.
The majority of Columbia’s programs have a total enrollment across all four years of fewer than 50 students and cost more to deliver than is collected in tuition, Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer said in September.
Any programs the board votes to eliminate would remain in place until 2028, meaning current students would still be able to graduate with their intended degree.
In September, David told faculty that the college planned to cut up to 18 majors, targeting expensive programs where instructional costs exceed what students pay in tuition, as the Chronicle previously reported.
Columbia currently has 59 majors and 11 concentrations across those majors. The largest three majors, Film and Television, Fashion Studies and Animation had collectively 1,365 students as of Fall 2024, according to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness.
Last fall the college had 6,529 students total. The college had 5,570 students this fall.
The ASL-English interpretation major loses $10,001 to $20,001 annually per student, according to a presentation David gave at a faculty town hall on Sept. 11. Other costly majors are Dance and Art History.
Citlali Rodriguez, senior ASL-English Interpretation major said she was unsure where the cost is coming from, “Our equipment comes from our teachers. They provide us with mentorship, they invite guests from the Deaf community and they do their best to show different real-life examples of situations we will approach in our career.”
One of the factors that affects cost is class size. Most of the ASL classes range from 10 to 15 students. The program, which had 59 students in Fall 2024, according to the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, has five full-time faculty with tenure appointments.
A Chronicle review of enrollment in four key ASL courses since Spring 2022 found that most were under enrolled. “Advanced American Sign Language I” had seven of 12 seats filled in Fall 2024 and eight of 15 in spring of 2022. Over the last seven semesters, it was only full in Spring 2023 when students were registered for all 15 seats.
The “Interpreting Practicum I” course and “Foundations of Interpreting” have never been fully enrolled since Spring 2022.
“I do know we have always been under scrutiny since we became accredited for being a small but expensive department,” Crom Saunders, associate professor in the School of Communication and Culture, said. “We also don’t require fees from the students towards class maintenance, lab equipment, and so forth, so there has been more expense than income per student in our program.”
One thing that costs the program is its accreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education. The organization works with several other organizations in the Deaf community to set a high standard of quality interpreting programs.
Columbia’s CCIE accreditation was renewed for 10 years in October 2023. As part of the accreditation, which costs $800 annually, the 300-level and above interpreting skills classes are allowed a maximum of 15 students. For the spring semester of 2025, “Foundations of Interpreting” has seven students enrolled as of the time of publication. The course cap is 12.
In the ASL-English Interpretation major, during the student’s senior year, students take the “Practicum I” and “Practicum II” courses, which are supervised fieldwork with a mentor.
According to Diana Gorman Jamrozik, associate director of the School of Communication and Culture, mentors are paid around $425 for 50 hours of mentorship. This number is for every mentor per student as well as per practicum classes that happen each semester.
Also, one of the main goals for the program is to earn licensure to legally interpret in the state of Illinois. In years past, Columbia has paid for students to get their Board of Evaluation of Interpreters Basic Performance test, a certification test that costs $250 for Illinois residents and $285 for out-of-state residents, but this might change with additional budget cuts, said Jamrozik.
Junior ASL-English Interpretation major Anya Tapley told the Chronicle that she is concerned about that. “I’m grateful to have made the cut-off and can continue my education with the wonderful staff we have, but it’s upsetting to know that in a few years, this community that has been fostered will be gone,” Tapley said.
Currently, Columbia is the only college that offers a four-year program in ASL-English Interpretation in Illinois. And the college is one of 15 CCIE-accredited colleges in the country.
“This will cause a ripple effect, unfortunately, of a dearth of interpreters for the Deaf community and the cost of that will be far heavier than the cost of our program’s budget,” Saunders said.
Bee Bailey, a senior ASL-English Interpretation major and ASL Club vice president said they understand the program is expensive. “However, what we give back to the Deaf community, which is historically marginalized and silenced, can’t be belittled.”
Rodriquez said she is upset that the program is going away because she has become so passionate about the field.
“I was excited to graduate, learn within my career and come back to share with those who would graduate next,” she said. “However, that won’t be something I can do in a few years. This will leave the Deaf community without support and that is the worst feeling.”
Faculty in the School of Communication and Culture recommended that the ASL-English Interpretation become a minor if it is cut. In addition to ASL-English Interpretation, the board will consider whether to eliminate the Deaf Studies, Cultural Studies, Photojournalism, Radio and English undergraduate programs, leaving a combined Journalism and Communication degree and a Creative Writing degree. The school currently has nine majors.
Faculty in the school have recommended that photojournalism and radio programs become minors.
Because the board voted to approve former President Kwang-Wu Kim’s recommendation for adverse circumstances in May, some faculty in the programs that are eliminated could lose their jobs.
The board already voted to reduce the number of core requirements from 42 to 30, primarily impacting faculty in the former Humanities, History and Social Sciences department who teach them.
In his advisory report to the board, Kim said 11 to 13 full-time faculty positions across the former English and Creative Writing, Humanities, History & Social Sciences and the Science and Mathematics department could be eliminated because of changes to the core.
But that number did not include faculty who are in the other programs now targeted to be cut.
Copy edited by Manuel Nocera
Resumen en Español:
La Junta de Síndicos de Columbia votará sobre la posible eliminación de hasta 18 programas, incluido la licenciatura en Interpretación ASL-Inglés, para abordar un déficit financiero de $17 millones. Este programa, único en Illinois y uno de los 15 acreditados a nivel nacional, enfrenta críticas por sus altos costos y baja matrícula, con menos de 60 estudiantes en el otoño de 2024. Si se elimina, permanecerá hasta 2028 para permitir que los estudiantes actuales se gradúen.
Los críticos advierten que esta decisión podría perjudicar a la comunidad sorda al reducir el número de intérpretes calificados. Otros programas bajo revisión incluye Estudios de la Comunidad Sorda, Estudios Culturales, Fotoperiodismo y más, algunos de los cuales podrían convertirse en programas menores. Los recortes podrían provocar despidos de profesores y transformar aún más la oferta académica de la universidad.
Resumen en Español por Manuel Nocera
Resumen en Español editado por Doreen Abril Albuerne-Rodriguez
