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capri0mniI didn't know that The New York Times had done a report on our protests, though.
Campus Life: SUNY Stony Brook; Sign Language: Foreign or Merely an Easy A?
I remember those protests. We tried to show up at the place where the board meeting was being held, so we could present the petition, only to find out that they had moved the location at the last minute. I remember Dane Spiro (mentioned in the article) leading us on a stealth mission through the library, to try and find which meeting room where they were holed up. That image of him signing "QUIET!" is my mnemonic for that sign.
Anyway, I found this article kinda-sorta by accident, in the wee hours, this morning. I'd tried to do a Google search, a couple of weeks ago, to see if I could get a clue to remember my Sign teacher's last name (I only remembered the name sign he used for "Larry" in class), and failed to find a mention of him, then.
What I did find was a long and interesting article on the ways in which Signed Languages do, in fact, meet all the standards for being complete languages in their own right (and in that article, it mentioned how SUNY Stony Brook was one of the first universities to offer ASL as a foreign language). And when I went Googling in the wee hours, this morning, it was for that article I wanted to go back and reread, this time.
I have Google-fu. It just seems to be turned inside-out. :-/
[Edited to add:
I don't know how many As were actually awarded -- I never polled my fellow students. But I worked hard for my A, and I had a leg up on everyone else, because I'd already had some familiarity with the language.
I think it is true, though, that many of the kids in ASL 101 had signed up expecting it to be an easy A... There were many expressions of surprise throughout that course.]
Campus Life: SUNY Stony Brook; Sign Language: Foreign or Merely an Easy A?
(quote) In response to the memo, more than 30 students held a protest earlier this month in front of the administration building and gathered more than 1,000 student signatures urging the university to continue accepting American Sign Language for the foreign language requirement. (unquote)
I remember those protests. We tried to show up at the place where the board meeting was being held, so we could present the petition, only to find out that they had moved the location at the last minute. I remember Dane Spiro (mentioned in the article) leading us on a stealth mission through the library, to try and find which meeting room where they were holed up. That image of him signing "QUIET!" is my mnemonic for that sign.
(quote) Lawrence Forestal, a sign language instructor [he was my teacher! :D], said Mr. Kerth's information on the number of students who received A's was "exaggerated."
Mr. Forestal, who is [D]eaf, urged the the University Senate's Curriculum Committee, which determines student requirements, to allow sign language students and deaf people to address the committee before a decision was made. "How can the committee set such policies without real knowledge of sign language?" he asked. (unquote)
Anyway, I found this article kinda-sorta by accident, in the wee hours, this morning. I'd tried to do a Google search, a couple of weeks ago, to see if I could get a clue to remember my Sign teacher's last name (I only remembered the name sign he used for "Larry" in class), and failed to find a mention of him, then.
What I did find was a long and interesting article on the ways in which Signed Languages do, in fact, meet all the standards for being complete languages in their own right (and in that article, it mentioned how SUNY Stony Brook was one of the first universities to offer ASL as a foreign language). And when I went Googling in the wee hours, this morning, it was for that article I wanted to go back and reread, this time.
I have Google-fu. It just seems to be turned inside-out. :-/
[Edited to add:
I don't know how many As were actually awarded -- I never polled my fellow students. But I worked hard for my A, and I had a leg up on everyone else, because I'd already had some familiarity with the language.
I think it is true, though, that many of the kids in ASL 101 had signed up expecting it to be an easy A... There were many expressions of surprise throughout that course.]
