MSA seeks department name change
The German and Russian studies department includes some Asian languages.
Published April 2, 2009
The Missouri Students Association passed a resolution stating their supporting adding the word "Asian" to the title of the German and Russian studies department.
The department offers classes in Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Arabic languages in addition to German and Russian studies. Supports of the change say the name does not accurately reflect the offerings of the department.
MSA Senate Speaker Amanda Shelton said she would like to see students and faculty members involved in Asian studies be recognized as full members in their department.
"It is a seemingly small, yet significant statement for our university to make for current participants in those classes and for potential future students considering our breadth and depth of emphases," Shelton said.
Academic Affairs Committee Chairwoman Erica Zucco said she wrote the legislation to establish that this is an issue the committee is interested in pursuing. Zucco is a former Maneater staff member.
"This has been an issue brought up to MSA by students several times over the past few semesters, I've been told," Zucco said.
Zucco said she believes the name change would help recruitment and clarity.
"The title would make it clearer for students looking for classes and also for potential applicants who might be more likely to attend MU if they saw we had a department with Asian studies," Zucco said.
MU archives show the department was formerly called the German, Russian and Asian studies department until 1989. Before that, it was the Germanic and Slavic studies department.
Japanese studies Director Martin Holman said no one has ever talked to him about changing the name of the department.
Holman said the department only offers degrees in German and Russian, but not in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Arabic or Hebrew.
"As far as I know, no other department has something in their name they don't grant a degree in," Holman said.
Holman said any student who wants to study Japanese can put together a degree program through the international studies department, which would come out to the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in Japanese.
"It's not a Japanese degree administered by this department at all, so you don't put the name on it," Holman said.
Holman said enrollment has increased in Japanese and Chinese classes over the past year. The first-year Chinese class had to open a second section because so many students were enrolled.
"The name issue doesn't seem to be hurting us at all," Holman said. "It's not as if we're dying of strangulation or starvation."
The department will be offering study abroad programs in China and Japan this summer and the Japanese program has already filled up, Holman said.
"We send more students abroad to Japan than any other Missouri school combined, including Washington University," Holman said.
Holman said there are already nine people enrolled in the fourth-year Japanese class for next semester and he expects to have 12 to 14 students in the class by the time the semester starts.
Holman said he thinks the department is very visible to students.
"I certainly don't think I'm very invisible," Holman said. "If we were more visible, what would we do with the people?"
Shelton said she has forwarded the legislation to the department head and other diversity organizations.
Zucco hopes to contact the department as well as the College of Arts and Science later this month and hopefully begin working with administrators.