The Language Learning Center is unlikely to get the money it needs to renovate its 40-year-old facilities, at least not from the Student Fee Review Board. The LLC requested $196,817.50 in student fees, but it didn’t receive any funding. This was the first time the center requested money from student fees.
SFRB member and GPSA Chief of Staff Japji Hundal said the board decided not to fund the center because it only serves students enrolled in language courses.
Hundal said the center should be funded by Instruction and General funding from the administration and the state because it is used primarily for educational purposes.
“The lab is tied to coursework and to credit hours, and only students who are taking language courses can use it,” he said. “We felt there are other organizations that better serve the whole student population.”
Pam Castaldi, director of the LLC, said outdated electrical equipment and poorly designed labs limit the ability of students to interact. The center has six computer pods that teachers can rent out for classes and that students can use to do individual or small group work, but Castaldi said the center would like to create a central lounge area so students can practice languages outside of class.
“You can take classes in languages, but that is not how you learn it,” she said. “You learn it by speaking it, and we offer tutors and films and conversation groups that allow students to really (immerse) themselves in the language. Language learning is so important. Most of the people living in Europe and in other places are bilingual and we need to have multilingual people so that we don’t fall behind.”
The LLC receives course fees from language classes. Castaldi said the $10 per student course fee funds much of the center’s operating budget, and while not every language course has the fee attached to it, all students in language classes use the center. I&G only funds the center’s administrative salaries, leaving no funds for updates, she said.
Castaldi said this is the first time the center has requested student fees in the more than 40 years the center has existed.
“In Ortega down here on the first floor, it’s pretty atrocious what they call the classrooms down here, and I think after 40 years they could spend a little money doing some basic renovations.”
Hundal said the SFRB will ask the administration for funding to support the center.
“We are going to advocate on behalf of more dollars in I and G funding that can be renewed year to year.”
But Castaldi said she is unsure if the funding will come through.
“Jaymie Roybal and Katie Richardson have committed on behalf of the SFRB to talk with me and the provost to talk about attaining some recurring funding through the College of Arts and Sciences, but I’m not sure what to expect.”
Without the funding, Castaldi said the lab won’t be able to serve students beyond their classroom needs.
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“We’re not going to be able to upgrade our labs,” she said. “It really hurts us because our goal is to become like a community center for language learners and without these upgrades, it makes that much harder.”
But Castaldi said she hasn’t given up hope. Final student fee recommendations are due by March 1. The President’s Strategic Budget Leadership Team is currently reviewing the recommendations from the SFRB.
“We will keep looking for funding, maybe not from SFRB,” she said.
