Due to previous budget mismanagement, Baldwin Wallace University announced on February 2, 2024 that it would no longer admit students to the French major. The effects of this decision will reverberate for years to come, not only for students whom, without access to a more advanced study of French, could lose out on study abroad and career opportunities as well as on potential highlights of their experience at Baldwin Wallace University, but also for faculty whose jobs are no longer guaranteed.

Language education is essential in our increasingly global world and by systematically discontinuing the French major, which a simple Google search will show is consistently noted as one of the top five languages necessary for career success on a global scale,  Baldwin Wallace University's leadership is contradicting the institution's now rewritten mission statement from their 2019-2023 Strategic Plan which reads, "...Baldwin Wallace assists students in their preparation to become contributing, compassionate citizens of an increasingly global society and encourages their pursuit of personal and professional excellence" (https://www.bw.edu/assets/about/bw-2019-2023-strategic-plan.pdf 

It is clear that this decision was not made with anything other than the university's budget problems in mind and that the path forward in and of itself contradicts the work Baldwin Wallace University has been putting in for years to cement itself on the global stage. Therefore, it is imperative that we act now to ensure that years of commitment to meeting the needs of our global community, as well as to ensuring future career opportunities, both for students and faculty, are not undone in one fell swoop.

As someone who has reaped the benefits of my Francophone Studies degree since the start of my career, I cannot stand by and watch this happen to a program that has opened countless doors for me and I hope you all will join me too.