Chad Hunter
Cherokee Phoenix 

NORMAN – A move by the University of Oklahoma to potentially cut foreign language requirements from the College of Arts and Sciences has garnered backlash from those who fear a domino effect that could impact Native courses, staff and student opportunities.

“That really negatively affects our language courses and could even possibly affect faculty jobs,” Cherokee Nation citizen and OU undergraduate student Reagan Hargis said.

The university, based in Norman, requires that students in the College of Arts and Sciences take three semesters of a foreign language. Class offerings include Native languages of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Kiowa and Potawatomi.

“If they take away the language requirement, that would make less people enroll in those classes,” Hargis said. “That could risk them being cut from the university altogether. That’s obviously not good because there’s already not that many people that speak those languages. For Cherokee Nation, there’s like 2,000 first-language speakers left. It would risk the longevity of these languages staying alive.”

University representatives say a routine review has been initiated for its language requirements in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences.

“Let me assure you that no decisions regarding language requirements have been made,” OU Senior Vice President and Provost André-Denis Wright stated in a letter to College of Arts and Sciences faculty, “and there are no plans to remove language programs at the University of Oklahoma.”

In his letter to staff, Wright said the evaluation’s intent is to “ensure that our degree programs align with both our commitment to a transformative education and the evolving needs of our students in a rapidly changing world.”

“In that spirit, all academic programs and courses at OU undergo regular, rotating reviews – a standard process consistent with higher education institutions nationwide,” he added.

But even the potential loss of language requirements sparked a petition among students opposing the cut, according to Hargis, who is a member of several Indigenous groups on campus.

“It’s really important in the Native community at OU,” she said. “We’ve been handing out flyers and making petitions and having people sign the petitions. We’ve been trying to spread awareness.”

The student petition, Hargis said, had more than 200 signatures as of Nov. 27. A petition started by OU Native American studies professor Raina Heaton on the change.org website had 1,879 supporters as of Dec. 2.

“Removing the foreign language requirement from general education at OU trivializes its importance and undermines the institution’s promise of a well-rounded education,” the online petition states. “This move particularly endangers Native language classes, to which the university has a special commitment and which are not widely available elsewhere.”

One petitioner wrote that cutting the course requirement is “absolutely shameful and disgusting and is reminiscent of the legacy of the residential boarding schools.”

Charles Watson, associate professor of classics and a faculty chair at OU, said he learned of the plan after being summoned to the dean’s office on Nov. 18.

“We were told in that meeting that the college was going to drop its foreign language requirement,” he said.

Removing requisites for language programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, Watson said, “would be an absolute disaster,” leading to a potential reduction in faculty.

“Requirements drive enrollments,” he said. “So, once you take away that language requirement, it means the beginning language classes we teach also are going to dry up. Once those smaller classes start to dry up, it means you stop having upper-division courses because you don’t have enough students. Then when that happens, you’re not graduating students from your degree program in sufficient numbers to let it continue. So, that means in about four years, you’re going to see the program dry up, and it will automatically be cancelled. That’s the new rule – you have to graduate a certain number on a rolling average, or it’s gone.”

For students, he added, it will “close avenues of opportunity.”

“No one’s going to have an opportunity to get a degree in Russian anymore,” Watson said. “It’s hard now, but Russian, Latin, Choctaw, all this stuff, gone. It’s absolutely nuts.”

The Cherokee Nation’s principal chief, OU alumnus Chuck Hoskin Jr., weighed in, sharing his concerns with OU President Joseph Harroz Jr.

“As the home of 38 federally recognized tribes, Oklahoma is uniquely positioned as a center of Native languages, each a storehouse of treasured cultural knowledge and history,” Hoskin said. “At Cherokee Nation, we have invested millions of dollars and countless hours of teaching and learning to protect and revitalize our Cherokee language. That is why I am concerned by reports that the University of Oklahoma may remove the language requirement from degree tracks, which could threaten numerous courses including the Cherokee language program at the university.”

Hoskin said he was assured that OU will consult with the Cherokee Nation before making changes that could affect Native languages.

“I urge the university to consult with tribes well in advance of any changes to enrollment practices or course requirement decisions for language programs,” he said.

This story was first published in the Cherokee Phoenix