Roxanne Fleischer
News Editor
At a meeting with Provost Thomas Falkner on Friday April 16, students handed him a petition asking for an Arabic Language minor at McDaniel. To fulfill the requirements of the proposed minor, only one more class needs to be offered: one 3000 level course.
“It would be a shame if they could not continue [with the language],” said Dr. Esa, the Foreign Language department chair. But Esa understands the reasons if the proposal for the minor would be rejected. “The college would support the minor if we had the resources.”The two main reasons for not adding the additional class, would be money and the fact that “the college will not start a program with just an adjunct,” according to Esa.
The adjunct teacher, Carol Zaru, currently teaches all of the Arabic language classes, two per semester, and co-teaches the Arab World class with Dr. Esa.
“Carol is an awesome, true human being. She’s an incredible natural born teacher,” said Esa. He said that Zaru prepares her own curriculum and makes her own tests. “This is unique,” he said, “you will not find this with all adjuncts.”
Zaru, who has been working at McDaniel since the fall of 2007, moved from Palestine in 2001. She is a native speaker of Arabic but had been taught English simultaneously with Arabic from kindergarten. Before she came to McDaniel, there had only been two Arabic classes offered.
The third and fourth classes were approved after proposals made, and the quota of at least six students was surpassed; there were 12 students in the third class and there are currently eight in the fourth class. This is the first semester that the fourth class is being offered.
“Students just began to love it, and see it as a beautiful language,” Zaru said. “It makes me feel good that they get that. It is not as difficult as it looks.”
Currently in the Arabic program, there are four classes: two-1000 level classes and two of the 2000 level. With these four classes and three Arabic culture classes, students can get a self-designed Arabic Studies minor, which two current seniors have been approved for.
But, for the students of the Arabic language classes, an Arabic Studies minor is not enough.
“I just think that it’s absurd if they won’t offer it,” said Emily Hajjar, a junior who is in the fourth Arabic class and signed the petition. “There are 6 of us or more asking the college to offer a class that a teacher is willing to teach?it’s kinda frustrating.”
Sophomore Jake Friedman, also in the fourth Arabic class, requested the meeting with Falkner. He wants to have the language minor so that he can continue to speak it with other students. “It’s beautiful, challenging, and very poetic,” he said of the language. He feels “stuck” that he may not be able to continue with the language.
The options that will remain for students like Friedman and Hajjar is to get the self-designed Arabic Studies minor, or to try and get approval on an independent study for the 3000 level class needed for the Arabic Language minor.
But these are not the best options. “Independent study doesn’t work for language, said Friedman. “I need some kind of environment where I can speak it.”
The advantages of learning the Arabic language, is evident to all Zaru’s students, including sophomore Tim Batts, a member of the ROTC program. “It’s not any secret that a lot of things have to do with the Middle East,” said Batts, who is considering either going into the military or working for the government.
“Besides the language, I’ve learned tons about culture and religion, about average way of life and how things are in the Middle East, ” Batts said.
Zaru agrees that the language is “absolutely” beneficial for her students. “I think this is a language increasingly in demand in the U.S. and the world,” she said.
Of the Centennial Conference schools, only Swarthmore offers a “Special Major in Interdiciplinary Arabic Language and Literature” as well as and Arab Language minor. Other conference schools, like Gettysburg and Franklin and Marshall, also offered classes in Arabic, like McDaniel, but do not have a minor.
“Arabic is an upcoming language that not many colleges offer. It would benefit the college to offer [the minor],” said Hajjar, whose favorite things about the class are when Zaru brings in news clippings in Arabic, and the students are successful in reading them.
“The classes are interactive, not just a straight lecture, very demanding but in a good way,” said Hajjar. “She expects a lot out of her students.”
Hajjar went on to describe Zaru as “like a mom” who even invited all of her students to her house so they could taste the different Arabic foods. She has also brought in her children and nephew to speak to the class so the students could hear different voices speaking the language.
Friedman agrees. “[Carol] works way too hard?it would be super nice [for her] to get that return from the college,” he said. “She’s completely unknown but she is the Arabic program.”
While it is not likely that the 3000 level class will be offered next year, Dr. Esa has said “eventually we will have the minor, it would be a matter of money.”
Dean Falkner could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.