ASUM senators passed a resolution officially endorsing an Arabic minor degree supported by student petitions during the last meeting of the semester Wednesday night.
“There is really, really strong demand for this,” ASUM senator Matt Fennell told his fellow senators.
Although the creation of the minor faces roadblocks on its way to becoming an accredited program, business manager Alex Gosline said as long as the students show support, ASUM should follow suit.
“A lot of students want this minor,” Gosline said. “It’s not our place to discuss the pros and cons of finance.”
One potential problem is the fact that there aren’t enough tenured professors at this point to make the minor a legitimate program, Sen. Jon Dempersmier said.
“The problem with creating a minor is you need it to be run by tenure-track faculty, and there aren’t any,” Dempersmier said. He expressed optimism that if the minor were created, UM would be encouraged to grant professors tenure who don’t yet have that credential.
“A lot of the professors in that (department) are eligible for tenure and haven’t been granted it yet,” Fennell said.
The resolution ultimately passed with unanimous consent.
“The students have said that they want this, and as their representative body, we need to support this,” Dempersmier said.
