My name is Subin Cho, a member of Class of 2019 majoring in Chinese and Japanese. I have been serving as a student manager of Language Tables for 2018-2019 academic year. In light of recent events on campus, and as a manager of Language Tables, I would like to draw your attention to the members of our student body who are facing difficult situations: the Hebrew language community and the Jewish community.
Language Tables is a student-run restaurant facility operated daily in Redfield Proctor during lunchtime. I know our guests’ names from our sign-in app, and I welcome them at the doors of Redfield. My job is to serve the 55 waiter peers and the 15 languages that are housed including Hebrew.
While I do not claim to represent the Hebrew language program or the Jewish community here, I do claim a strong identification for Language Tables. I am a representative of Language Tables, where the vast language and cultural communities of Middlebury College gather. Unfortunately, I don’t speak 15 languages but I do endeavor to interact with our guests by learning how to say “hello” or “do you need more water” in the 15 languages.
I want my guests to feel welcome. It is truly a privilege to serve a place where embodies Middlebury’s mission statement. 15 languages together bring diversity, inclusivity and knowledge. The language communities gathered at Redfield embody the vision of the future.
As The Campus article “Hebrew Program Will Lose Its Only Professor In Fall” illustrates, there are values that cannot be quantified. As an institution of higher education and a campus for many future leaders, our students' rights to learn and engage with their cultures should be prioritized for the most. As a language student, it is unfortunate that the College cannot supply an academic option for our students. As a soon-to-be graduate, I am disappointed to see how Middlebury College takes the Hebrew program for granted and put a part of our student body in a very difficult position.
The Hebrew Program is one of the language programs that the College has been promoting. The lack of the Hebrew program would not only affect the students with the Jewish heritages, but us the students of Middlebury College collectively. We will be missing a chance to learn the Hebrew language and many others that it entails beginning next fall.
It is in my personal and professional interest to defend the Hebrew language community and the Jewish community here. To stand in solidarity, I added one more Hebrew Table for Friday Language Tables. Hebrew Tables offer a co-curricular opportunity for students to practice their Hebrew speaking skills and to be engaged in a rich Jewish heritage. It is to show my personal support and to let the Hebrew language community and the Jewish community, inside and outside of the classroom know that there is a space for them at Middlebury College.
One of the important job responsibilities that I fulfilled as a manager was creating a shift schedule. Divided by languages and days of the week, I put all of our waiters' names in each slot on that roster. Different waiters from Monday to Friday continue what Middlebury has been championing as an institution. When I first read the article “We Need the Hebrew Department” in The Campus, I immediately thought about my waiters, especially the Jewish student waiters. Our Jewish student waiters are who will be directly affected by the cut to the Hebrew Program.
The shocking situations that they are facing are hurtful to me as a person since I deeply care about them as a friend. They are my peers, essential members of the team, and I feel their pain as my own responsibility. I pledged to be their manager, and they gave me the invaluable trust and friendship. I can’t ignore their disappointment.
The Hebrew language communities inside and outside of Redfield Proctor are what I want to defend. My friends who are frustrated by the imminent disappearance of the Hebrew Program are the ones who I want to support. All of them matter to me. I feel their frustration and would like to politely ask you to join me in advocating for the maintenance of the Hebrew program.
I would like the Administration to understand that their decisions always have impacts on certain members of our student body. I would like to urge the Administration to see the decisions they make, which do not only translated into the figures on the fiscal documents.
The people who are impacted by the administrative decision are our students who always are with you, and with us. They have their dinner with you in Ross, and they study in the carrels of Davis Library. They laugh with you in classroom at FIC, and they also serve in Redfield Proctor. They are one of us, the students of Middlebury College. As a student, I cordially ask you to support our peers that who feel alone in this situation.
We are the students of Middlebury College. We are empowered and compassionate. We can do so much for each other. Our beloved Hebrew language community and the Jewish community here deserve support in this upsetting time, and I would like to humbly take this chance to express my support to them by way of this letter. I would like to seek your support for our friends at this difficult time at Middlebury College and unite as a community together.
Subin Cho is a member of the Class of 2019.
Comments
