UMW students shouldn’t have to resort to Germanna Community College for American Sign Language courses

by MADISON FRY

Staff Writer

When I transferred to the University of Mary Washington in spring 2022, I discovered that to fulfill the language requirement, I needed to retake courses in one of the two languages I learned throughout high school. I decided that I wanted to redo American Sign Language, but was disappointed to find that UMW does not directly offer any ASL courses and that I would need to go elsewhere and transfer the credit in.

My advisor told me that many students who wanted to take ASL took it through Germanna Community College and transferred the credits. That is what I did, and I am currently enrolled in the last semester of ASL that I need to fulfill the language requirement. However, it is extremely inconvenient to constantly move between two campuses and pay two different tuition fees. If enough UMW students want to take ASL and resort to taking courses at local community colleges that the number is notable to faculty, our university should offer its own courses in ASL.

According to Associate Professor of German and Department Chair of Modern Languages and Literature Marcel Rotter, there are currently no plans to expand language offerings at UMW. 

“We teach seven modern languages. Expanding the offerings during a time of reduced enrollments at UMW does not seem feasible right now,” he said. 

Learning ASL at the college level is important as interpreters are needed in different settings like healthcare, schools and counseling. Offering ASL on our campus would allow more students to connect with those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and communicate through ASL. Offering ASL courses is also beneficial to students as it is a visual language rather than verbal, and students would be able to expand on their learning and memorization strategies to become proficient in the language. 

“I have always been interested in learning ASL,” said Summers Worthington, an undeclared sophomore who is enrolled in ASL courses at Germanna Community College. “Ever since I started high school, I wanted to take it in college, but when I joined UMW, I found out they didn’t teach ASL and I was very upset about it.” 

UMW does have a student-run club called Talk to the Hands in which students learn about sign language and deaf culture. Talk to the Hand President Mollie Moomaw, a junior elementary education major, said that her favorite part of the club is being able to teach other UMW students about ASL and being able to get to know people with similar interests. She is similarly frustrated at the lack of options regarding ASL education at UMW.

“I, and other members of TTTH, find it extremely inconvenient that UMW does not offer ASL courses and we must go through Germanna,” she said. “Many of our members wish to learn more, but only having one lesson a week makes it extremely hard to teach everything and have students retain it, especially since we have to teach around breaks.”

She continued, “We have also had UMW staff email us asking to teach them, but as hearing individuals with little experience, we do not feel comfortable providing opportunities outside of our club time. Since it has gotten to the point where even UMW staff would like to learn, it is frustrating that we still don’t have ASL options here on campus.”

Ella Schmehl, a senior psychology and studio art double major who sits on the executive board of Talk to the Hand, agrees with Moomaw that ASL at UMW would benefit students.

“Right now, TTTH is the only opportunity for UMW students to learn on campus. Our officers do their best to teach basic skills, but it is only a fraction of the information that would be taught in a formal classroom,” said Schmehl. Providing ASL classes at UMW would emphasize the importance of teaching this language and bring awareness to the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.” 

Students are obviously eager to learn more about ASL and deaf culture. UMW should consider hiring an ASL professor so that students and staff can directly learn from someone who is fully immersed in the language. Many students, including myself, feel frustrated at the lack of ASL courses offered at the university and do not want to have to be enrolled in two different colleges.