Resolution on Foreign Language Study in the California State University

RESOLUTION ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDY IN THE CSU

October 3, 2008

WHEREAS all freshmen must have completed at least two years of high school foreign language study or its equivalent to enter the CSU; and

WHEREAS transfer students may not have met the minimum freshman requirements and are therefore disadvantaged; and

WHEREAS two years of high school foreign language study is generally considered to be the equivalent of one year of college work; and

WHEREAS the notion of “value added” by the Bachelors degree assumes that students build on previously acquired skills; and

WHEREAS the Access to Excellence statement of the CSU includes as an indicator of excellence “an increase from entry to graduation in the extent to which CSU students gain and improve global understanding and foreign language skills so they can compete in the global economy and participate in a global society;”

Therefore, be it

RESOLVED that the Foreign Language Council urge the Chancellor’s Office to require that all students earning a Bachelors degree from the CSU have coursework in a foreign language that exceeds the freshman entrance requirement so that they may truly have a “value added” experience;

And be it further resolved that this resolution be distributed to the Provosts in all twenty-three universities in the CSU system.