CAMPUS
PETITIONING AND PUSHING BACK: TUFTS COMMUNITY REACTS TO PORTUGUESE PROGRAM CUTS
By Sabah Lokhandwala & Gracie Theobald-Williams
I
n early October 2021, students were made aware of immediate cuts to Tufts’ Portuguese program. These cuts, students alleged, include a reduction in the number of Portuguese courses offered and the elimination of the minor. Within days, social media posts circulated on Facebook and Instagram to “Save Portuguese at Tufts.” Students in the department immediately created an online petition that now has over 1,100 signatures and 42 pages of testimonials from students, alumni, and community members. In the petition, Portuguese program students and native Portuguese speakers outlined their three asks of the administration: 1) guaranteeing a Portuguese minor at Tufts, 2) keeping the Portuguese fulltime program coordinator position, and 3) keeping the part-time lecturer position. The petition includes testimonials and letters of support from undergraduate and graduate students, alumni, faculty, and community organizations. While students and faculty became aware of cuts to the Portuguese program in October, the administration said they had already decided on these reductions this past spring. In an email to the Tufts Observer, James Glaser, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, wrote, “When the fulltime lecturer in charge of the Portuguese language program resigned last spring, the A&S deans decided to phase out the program and use the program elsewhere.” Maria Champlin, who took over as interim Portuguese program coordinator, was unaware of the school’s decision when 16 TUFTS OBSERVER NOVEMBER 8, 2021
she took over the program. “I asked for a meeting [this month] because I had heard that the minor was being cut. I did not know anything about it and that [meeting] is when I learned about their decision,” Champlin said. According to Glaser, Tufts’ decision to downsize the Portuguese department stems from enrollment size concerns and the departure of a full-time faculty member in Spring 2021. He wrote, “For some time now, it’s been evident that Portuguese courses have lower than optimal enrollments, often near the threshold of 6 that leads the School of Arts & Sciences to cancel courses.” However, Sophia Costa, a junior leading the push to keep the Portuguese minor along with two other students, said that enrollment for the Portuguese department has not fluctuated as much as the administration is claiming. Costa stated that participating in the Tufts 1+4 Brazil program, which allows admitted students to spend a year abroad before matriculating to Tufts, has led many students to the Portuguese department. Though fewer students are participating in Tufts 1+4 due to COVID-19, she believes the department has maintained its average of students in on-campus classes per semester. “It’s not a decrease in enrollment as the institution is painting it to be,” she said. Whether the administration’s fears are unfounded or not, they have resulted in drastic changes to the department. Portuguese classes will still be offered at Tufts, but only a limited number and for
“I WAS ABLE TO FIND
A PIECE OF HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME IN NEARLY A DECADE THROUGH THIS DEPARTMENT.”
a limited amount of time. For the 2022 –2023 academic year, Portuguese language classes will still be offered. However, after this time, Tufts will offer only Portuguese for Spanish Speakers, which, according to Glaser, “generates stronger student interest,” as well as “a culture course each semester relevant to this area.” Professors, however, are concerned about the potential limitations of only offering the Portuguese for Spanish Speakers course. This decision, according to Champlin, “cut[s] out anybody that does not speak Spanish to take Portuguese.” Some students come to Tufts to connect to Portuguese itself. In a testimonial, Leticia Priebe Rocha (A’20) described her experience of initially losing her Portuguese fluency when she immigrated to the United States. “Something integral to my identity… was just disappearing day after day,” she wrote. Rocha regained her fluency when she took classes at Tufts: “I was able to find a
