OSU says ciao to Italian, more language classes could get axed

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Oregon State University is saying "ciao" to Italian, and other languages may be on the way out.

"It's a sad day," said Italian instructor Christopher Baldridge as students carried a red coffin around campus last week in a mock funeral.

Entry-level classes in Italian will be eliminated in the fall, and all grade levels will be phased out by the fall term in 2009.

The foreign languages and literatures department is running a projected $250,000 deficit this biennium, so class sizes will increase while 17 to 20 sections per term will be eliminated next school year.

Introductory Spanish classes will be scaled back from 12 courses to seven, said Guy Wood, the interim chairman of the foreign languages department.

Two more languages and about four full-time positions also could disappear, but Wood declined to say which languages are the next likely candidates for elimination.

This year, the university offered three Italian sections a term, two for entry-level students and a second-year course.

Each class had about 30 students in it.

About 40 protesters hauled the casket into the Kerr Administration Building, where they talked with OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Sabah Randhawa.

"Italian was definitely my favorite class of my three years here," said Domonique Gratteri, who plans to study in Rome next year.

Wood said he thinks Italian was cut because it was the "new kid on the block."

It was added in 2001, Baldridge said, after being absent from the curriculum for about 10 years.

Even English courses are likely to be affected by budget cuts.

Tracy Daugherty, chairman of the English department, said four entry-level classes would be cut in the fall because the department is required to provide writing courses that all OSU students must take, but the department doesn't receive enough funding to cover that requirement.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)