A proportionally low number of Spanish professors and limited space in Olin has led to less-than-ideal conditions in Spanish language classes. Research done by both internal and external committees has found that the ratio of students enrolled in Spanish courses to the number of professors teaching these courses is far too high, with one report going so far as to identify a virtual "hole in the department."
Efforts are being made by the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's Culture Ethnicity and Community Affairs (CECA) committee to promote major changes in the Romance Languages Department. There has been some discussion about the staffing problems among administrators and Department professors during the past year, but growing student discontent finally brought the issue to the forefront this fall.
The state of the Spanish program will finally be addressed in a conjunct meeting between members of the administration, the Romance Languages Department, and CECA constituents in early November. Committee co-chair Mernaysa Rivera called this step "a definite sign of progress."
There are an especially low number of professors teaching the popular high-level Spanish courses and Latin American Studies courses, especially compared to what the French program offers. "The Romance Language Department prioritizes French classes, even though there is higher demand for Spanish courses," stressed Rivera.
A fact sheet was distributed about two weeks ago to both students and administrators, revealing that there are nine full-time professors teaching classes to 1,150 students while the French program employs 12 full-time professors for 539 students. There is a greater amount of part-time professors available for Spanish courses, but part-time faculty tend to teach lower level classes. Higher level literature classes require tenure-track professors, and are in greater demand by students.
However, hiring new professors is a lengthy process, according to Chair of the Romance Language Department Isabelle Naginski. "The situation cannot be remedied overnight," she said.
Naginski acknowledged that Spanish classes are overcrowded, but said that fixing the problem will be difficult because of space constraints in Olin. The building's architectural design was shrunken thrice during construction due to a limited budget, and class size cannot be increased to more than 20 students because there is no room for desks.
"Students are sitting on the floor during Spanish classes and many are not able to get into Latin American Studies courses altogether," Rivera said. She encouraged discontented students to make their professors and administrators aware of their concerns.
An external review, which was conducted by professors from Harvard, Princeton, and Cornell Universities last year, made several suggestions for improving the Romance Language Department as a whole. It recommended that part-time teaching staff be "amalgamated into full-time positions" that more Latin American faculty be hired, and that the Romance Languages Department receive increased funds.
Growing interest in Spanish courses is be attributed in part to the growing size and influence of the Latino population in the United States, according to the external review. Another important contributor to the increased enrollment is the popularity of the International Relations major at Tufts. The IR program requires students to earn eight foreign language credits and many students double major in IR and a second language.
Teresa Howe, Deputy Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Spanish Professor, accounted for the decrease in Spanish staff by mentioning that one professor was on medical leave, another is taking a semester sabbatical in the spring, and yet another one did not receive a contract renewal. Howe said that the job of contracting new professors lies in the hands of the administration, said that she hopes "they make a choice in our favor."
The Romance Languages Department has also been criticized for not offering Portuguese classes at all, a program that has been offered in the past. There have also been numerous requests for the implementation of the Italian major and the reactivation of the Tufts-in-Italy program.
