College launches Chile school

Author: Lisie Mehlman

Beginning in July 2006, Middlebury College will assume full responsibility for the management of the SUNY-Plattsburgh Southern Cone Programs in Chile as part of the C.V. Starr School in Latin America. The Chilean program oversees the education of students at universities in four different Chilean cities.

The process of acquiring the Chilean schools began about five years ago, according to Director of Off-Campus Study David Macey. In 2001, members of the Latin American Studies faculty voiced that they wanted to expand the options for students to study abroad and mentioned that their students had exceedingly positive experiences at the Southern Cone Programs.

Because, as Macey says, "the College is committed to projects that seek to achieve a higher level of immersion than is necessarily sought by other programs," Middlebury contacted Plattsburgh about a possible partnership. Plattsburgh was very responsive to Middlebury's interest in its programs and the two colleges came to an agreement. Macey explained, "The agreement depended on the personal plans of Bill and Carmen Culver, who headed the Southern Cone Programs in Chile, the plans of Plattsburgh and the plans of the head of SUNY schools in Albany." Plattsburgh promptly handed over control of programs in Argentina and Uruguay, and made the Chilean programs its top priorities. It was also determined that when the Culvers decided to retire, the Chilean programs, too, would fall under Middlebury's leadership. That time has now come, and Plattsburgh is currently overseeing its last semester of students while Middlebury has begun admitting students for the fall 2006 semester and is making plans for the program's future. In order to make the transition of leadership as smooth as possible, the College has decided to continue with the same staff that was employed under Plattsburgh's management.

Macey explained that it is in the College's best interest to have its students attending Middlebury Schools Abroad rather than non-Middlebury schools because "we can control what happens there and I think we have high standards and only by establishing our own program can we ensure that the students meet our standards."

How, then, does Middlebury intend to improve the Southern Cone Program? Because Middlebury already held the program in such high regards, Macey said that the hope is "for students on the programs to not really see a whole lot of difference. It should be a sort of upping the ante in terms of prerequisites for getting into the program and expectations for students in attendance." These new prerequisites include requiring that students take the equivalent of five semesters of college-level Spanish before going abroad and making other minor amendments to admissions requirements. Middlebury has also imposed the language pledge and adjusted the course offerings of the program, primarily by making some changes to the journal course offered.

Justin Boren '06, who attended the Southern Cone Program while it was under SUNY management, expressed some concerns about Middlebury's acquisition of the program. He believes, "Midd will discourage the immersion process by sending large amounts of kids who are already friends into the Chilean cities. It seems that at most Middlebury programs kids report spending most of their time with American friends." Boren says that his "experience at the school was good and was total immersion" and his concerns for the experience of Middlebury students abroad in the future seem valid. However, Macey maintains that the underlying goal of assuming responsibility of the new schools is "to give our students the opportunity to be as immersed in the local university and culture as they can be."