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MONDAY, OCT. 27, 2025
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The hellish history of ‘Reefer Madness’ NEWS
Language courses cut as university braces for budget reduction By Sasha Love
Senior News Reporter
Last summer, UO planned to cut all Swedish, Portuguese and Swahili classes following projections of a $25-30 million dollar deficit. While some classes remain, 100-level courses have been phased out and less commonly taught languages face uncertain futures. The only Portuguese classes that are available this year are 200-level and above, with no new cohorts of students learning the language this fall. Portuguese is spoken by about 265 million people, according to UNESCO. Beyond Portugal, it is the official language of Brazil and six African countries, including Angola. “The Portuguese-speaking world is an important producer of literature, of political Continue story on page 7
OPINION
Nag: Underpaid, undervalued and unequivocally important Continue story on page 10
After language program reductions, UO turns to University of Minnesota for Swedish instruction Following budget reduction in the global studies department, some students must take language course online instead of in person.
By Sasha Love
Senior News Reporter
Four days a week, six University of Oregon students crowd around a television screen in McKenzie Hall to take Swedish 201 with a University of Minnesota professor. These students are part of a UO pilot project for participation in the CourseShare hybrid learning model promoted by the Big Ten Academic Alliance. They described themselves as the “guinea pigs.” Students who had taken 100-level Swedish courses last year and planned on taking the 200 sequence this year were emailed this summer that their professor, Elizabeth Howard, had been laid off and their language class was cancelled. The notice caught
many of the Swedish students off guard. “When they initially said they cancelled it I was like ‘I’m screwed, what am I going to do?’” Swedish student Anna Viden said. “And now that it’s online it just feels like a Band-Aid over a bullet wound.” Swedish student Gross is a senior this year, she said not knowing what would happen to her language class for several weeks during the summer was “stressful.” “We have very little time and wiggle room for our grad plans, and this threw a gigantic wrench in everything,” Taylor Gross said. In July, students got an update from the head of the department of German & Scandinavian studies, Martin Klebes, alerting them of an opportunity to continue studying Swedish through an online hybrid BTAA Continue story on page 8