UNM’s ongoing budget issues have not only caused cuts and hiring freezes — it has also posed a threat to the Italian language program as its last faculty member, Rachele Duke, refuses to retire in order to keep the program alive.
“I was going to retire two years ago, but when this story came up — eliminating Italian because I am the only faculty member in Italian, and have been since 1990 — I decided not to because I love the job that I am doing, and as long as I am here they will not cut the program,” Duke said.
Modern universities, as we think of them today, began in Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, she said.
“It is just amazing to me that they could even contemplate taking Italian out of the curriculum,” she said.
Duke said UNM would not be the only one to have cut Italian, as high schools have already gotten rid of the language in their respective curriculums.
“I am very positive, so as long as I stay here, the program will be just as vibrant as ever,” Duke said.
Duke said she disagrees with the University’s priorities.
“One of the things I don’t like is that the University does not always put students on top,” Duke said. “The University to me has reached the bottom, just thinking about money and profit.”
Duke explained that the University should first be a place where students learn to be human beings, not just a place to get a degree and a job.
“When they get inspiration they should be creative,” Duke said. “That is why people take Italian, because it enriches the human being. It helps you become creative and a dreamer.”
Duke said the biggest reason for the decision not to retire is the love she has for teaching and her students.
“I love my students like my own children,” she said. “Italian is a program beloved by students and I think it does provide them with a great foundation for the future.”
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Duke said that although UNM is considering ditching the program, her classes were always full and she never had trouble recruiting students.
“If people want to take Italian, I am always going to let them,” she said. “Even when Italian was changed to six credit hours and meeting everyday…my students didn’t abandon Italian.”
Duke encourages students, in order to save the foreign language, to take an Italian course and send a message so people know Italian is important not only to history, music, art or literature, but also as a subject in itself.
“They should remember all of those famous Italians that gave rise to the Renaissance and to the modern idea of the city,” she said. “We need to keep that alive, otherwise it would be like building on sand, just learning things in a vacuum. I hope we have reached the bottom and now we are starting to rise.”
Megan Nyce is a news reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached atnews@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Megznham.
