Students petition for Korean dept.

Author: Sara Black

A grassroots student initiative promoting the foundation of a Korean language program at the College was launched last week. In a campus-wide e-mail, Ilhan Kim '07 outlined the first stage of a campaign to garner support for his movement: a petition.

"I would like to set in motion plans to incorporate the Korean language into Middlebury's academic curriculum," he announced in the e-mail, which contained a link to an online petition that has received over 500 signatures.

"If you look at the petition, a lot of the names aren't just Asian names," said Kim in an interview. "A lot of non-Asians are also supporting the petition. They see the benefit of this initiative as a way of encouraging the administration to continue expanding its language program."

Kim said he noticed the absence of a Korean language program at the College upon his initial arrival as a first-year student, but said it did not occur to him to promote the change he wanted to see until recently.

"I believe this school needs to not just rest on its laurels, but actively search for other languages that are critically needed in this world," said Kim. "Middlebury shouldn't wait for these languages to be available elsewhere, but should really step up to the plate and be very proactive about starting new language programs."

Demand for fluency in the Korean language has grown as Korea emerges as a world power. In recent years, Korea has made a home in the global economy with such commercial giants as Samsung, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group and Helio. The conflict between South and North Korea has also slowly been evolving into a political vortex, making Korean a more prominent language on the global stage.

Enrollment in Korean language programs at institutions of higher education in the United States increased by 16.3 percent between 1998 and 2002, according to a 2002 survey conducted by the Modern Language Association. However, the increase in Korean language students was not as significant as the rise during the same period seen by other languages the College has debated adding to the curriculum such as Modern Hebrew, which will be offered as a language course beginning in Fall 2007.

The prominence of the Korean language on the worldwide scale has also prompted the College to explore its inclusion in the Summer Language Schools.

"Korean is definitely one of the languages that has been considered for introduction to the Language Schools in the past, along with a number of others" said Michael Geisler, dean of Language Schools and Schools Abroad. "If you were to introduce Korean right now, the numbers are telling us the constituent base isn't there for a language school."

Andrea Bolivar '10, currently a student of Chinese at the College, expressed interest in a Korean language program.

"There is so much going on in Korea now that is historically imperative," said Bolivar, "and I would like to be able to understand and experience Korea more fully."

According to Kim, the College is home to a sizeable group of Korean-American students, many of whom have lost touch with their culture and want to reconnect with their language and heritage. There are also many Koreans who were adopted at birth and want to learn more about their birth country in an effort to find their own identity.

"When Korea's cultural influence throughout Asia is so defined and prominent to spawn the creation of the term hallyu [Korean Wave]," Kim said, "Middlebury College should take notice. When Kim Jong-Il fires off nuclear missiles on the Fourth of July, Middlebury College should take notice."

DongHee Janet Kang '10, founder of a club at the College named "Midd on the Globe," has also found the nine languages of the Middlebury language department limiting and wanting in variety. In response, Kang has created a club to bring students fluent in variety of languages together with students who want to learn about language and culture.

"I've met a lot of international students who want to express their culture and teach their language to a lot of people and there is basically no outlet for that," said Kang. "I'm hoping that through this club students can not only express their language, but also their culture."

Additional reporting by Zamir Ahmed