For every Bachelor of Arts degree at Clemson University, American Sign Language is recognized as a foreign language and counts towards graduation progress.

Unless you are a political science major like me. 

Political Science is the only BA that exempts ASL at Clemson University. 

Their exact quote on the issue is "ASL is a vital and important medium for communicating in English, but studying sign language does not achieve the same academic goals as studying another language."

The implication that ASL isn't a separate language from English is one that is heavily outdated and harmful to the deaf community.

ASL is a language that is almost entirely separate from English, since signs only express concepts and are not direct one-to-one for English words.

In addition to the signs themselves, the deaf community has a rich and distinct culture that cannot be understated, and it is also separate from most of American culture. 

On top of this, ASL is also recognized by the state of South Carolina as a separate language that one can achieve a biliteracy certification for. And if the state recognizes this, why can't the Political Science department at Clemson?

I am creating this petition with the hope that everyone will see that ASL is a language that deserves to be given the same respect that any other language has here at Clemson.

I hope that you agree with me and sign this petition that will be sent straight to the head of the political science department to prove ASL is its own language and should be treated as such by the department.