The class of 2014 and transfer students who entered in the fall of 2010 have a new requirement for language as part of DU’s common curriculum.

Students are no longer able to test out of a language completely, as could students who started DU in Summer Session 2010 or before.

This new requirement will apply for all future students.

“A university which calls itself internationalized and professes what we do should ensure that students have the value added by studying at the pace and with the maturity of college/university curriculum,” said Victor Castellani, chair of the Department of Languages and Literatures.

New students took a placement test during orientation week, just as all returning students have taken in the past. If a student wants to start a new language completely or if they do not receive an adequate score on the placement test to indicate that they are prepared for the second segment of an elementary sequence, they must take a full year of any of the languages DU offers.

This is no different from the previous policy.

The change applies when a student tests into the middle segment of an elementary sequence or higher. These students are required to take the last two quarters, 1002 and 1003, of whatever language they tested for.

Any student who tests into the 1003 or higher, even up to the most advanced 3000-level classes, must take only one quarter at the level they test into.

Some freshmen do not agree with the new requirement that they must take at least a quarter of language at DU.

“I’m not happy that I have to take a full year of a language because I would rather spend my credits on other things,” said freshman Marisa Maurer. “I like languages but I don’t like that I have to take a full year of it. I would understand them making us take a quarter, but not a whole year.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, it does help us get ready for study abroad, especially if they speak the language we studied,” she said.

Maurer studied sign language in high school, but could not use this to test out of the requirement.

“I think if you’re already proficient in a language you should not be required to take a quarter of it,” said freshman Natalie Ball.

Ball tested into Spanish 2003 when she entered DU.

“The point of taking a language is to add diversity to yourself, so if you have a proficient background there’s no reason to waste your time and money on a quarter of a language if you’re never going to study it again.”

This new curriculum standard applies to all new students. Exceptions include international students whose first language is not English and transfer students who bring one whole year of language education from a four-year institution.

The recommendation to change the curriculum was made by the General Education Review Committee.

The committee is appointed by Provost Gregg Kvistad and made up primarily of faculty from every school and division that offers undergraduate degrees at DU.

The movement was then approved by the undergraduate faculty in a vote conducted by the Faculty Senate.

The incentives to make this change vary from attempting to be more comparable to other schools like DU in selectivity, to achieving something beyond proficiency in a language.

The faculty also hopes the new requirement will help students to keep up with DU’s expanding international programs.

“With our university’s increasing emphasis on internationalization, and the wonderful opportunities that students now have to study abroad, the new language requirement enables students to develop a greater understanding of different cultures worldwide,” said Arianna Nowakowski, assistant to the chair of the Department of Languages and Literatures.

The enrichment that this new requirement presents will ultimately help students professionally and personally, she said.