Having just read the recent article in the Barometer regarding the suspension of the International Degree and as one of the people involved in developing it, I would like to add my perspective to the objections.

OSU administrators seem to have confused the increase of numbers of students from foreign countries with the internationalization of interested students’ curriculum.

While we all appreciate having diverse backgrounds at our university, having international students in classrooms is completely different from studying abroad, being proficient in a second language (or being bilingual), and writing a thesis that compares and contrasts ideas from other cultures in an in-depth, not cursory, academic study.

As others have mentioned, now is not the time—as if there ever would be—to cut back on OSU students’ opportunities to gain what other cultures have to teach.

Dianne W. Hart

Senior Instructor of Spanish, Emerita