The leaders of the project said they aim to have the language classes available to students in the next one to two years.
The leaders of the project said they aim to have the language classes available to students in the next one to two years.
The Student Government of Loyola Chicago and other collaborators such as Kapwa, Loyola’s Filipino student organization, and Kabataan Alliance Midwest are striving to implement Tagalog in Loyola classrooms within the next two years.
Tagalog is the native language of the Philippines and is spoken as a household language by over 800,000 people in the U.S, according to the U.S Census Bureau. Rogers Park is home to a significant Filipino American community, including some Loyola students who share this heritage as well.
Chief Academic Affairs Officer of SGLC Ronan Valera said he advocates for students in various academic bodies and works for the College of Arts and Sciences academic council and the Board of Undergraduate Studies.
Valera said he was initially approached by Kapwa representative Grace Gutierrez, a senator in SGLC, who asked in early November if there was anything he could do to help advance the implementation of Tagalog courses in the university curriculum and the Modern Literature and Languages Department.
Valera said the initial step for SGLC was creating a petition, which first opened Nov 7. The petition gained momentum quickly, now listing over 190 signatures from various contributors in the university community.
The SGLC intends to launch Tagalog as an introductory course, with the potential to progress to a Southeast Asian Studies minor or a related program. The movement looks to enhance academics representative of the diversity of the Loyola community.
“Having that communication will advance a lot of students’ understanding of the Philippines and the relationship and the impact that Filipino Americans have had on society” Valera said.
Valera said establishing Tagalog courses at the university is a complex multi-step process. Which includes crafting a more sophisticated proposal, finding instructors who are willing to teach courses and demonstrating student interest for administration.
Once settled, the department chair would present the proposal, guiding it through multiple channels, such as the Academic Council, according to Valera.
Members of SGLC and the other contributing organizations hope to introduce Tagalog as a course that fulfills the foreign language requirement not only within CAS, but for international business students within the Quinlan School of Business as well.
Valera said the process is a collaborative effort, and he’s excited to see student leaders advancing their initiative by advocating for these movements within Loyola.
“It’s not just solely the student government taking this on, but it’s student government, Kapwa and Kabataan Alliance Midwest,” Valera said. “So we’re really excited to be working with these Filipino student leaders.”
Gutierrez, a second-year psychology and sociology major, is a senator for SGLC. She said she was motivated to join the initiative after hearing Kabataan Alliance and Kapwa express interest in bringing Tagalog courses to Loyola.
“I think it’s important for Loyola to have these classes because Filipinos are part of the community,” Guiterrez said. “I think since we have such a high population, it’s important to integrate their culture.”
Gutierrez said with further promotion, she believes more interest will arise, eventually spurring action for the movement.
Joie Cabrera, a third-year psychology major, is an advocate coordinator for Kapwa and said she supports inclusion of Tagalog courses in the university because the representation could be highly impactful for many students.
“If you don’t really see yourself represented, you feel smaller than you actually are,” Cabrera said.
While statistics show Tagalog is widely spoken, especially with a significant Filipino population in the local area, she said it doesn’t necessarily mean the community feels seen.
Cabrera said she’s passionate about bringing Tagalog into classrooms because she believes having the option would help expand people’s perception of non-European countries, bringing another viewpoint to historical and cultural learning.
“The world is so much more diverse and so rich in so many different ways,” Cabrera said. “To deny people of being able to learn more really restricts how you can view the world.”
Athena Lezondra, a fourth-year biology major, also said raising cultural knowledge and having Tagalog classes would be influential for Filipino Americans. She said bringing Tagalog to the university would help connect Filipino students to their culture and could contribute to expanding communication with their relatives.
Lezondra said growing up in a less diverse area made her feel like she needed to blend in. However, finding a community that embraces Filipino culture has allowed her to reconnect and embrace her heritage.
“I think a lot of people are like, ‘Oh my parents didn’t want to teach me,’” Lezondra said. “But I don’t think it’s because of that, I think it’s just like a generational trauma that has been passed down. It’s important to just reconnect and try to break that generational trauma.”
Lezondra said generational trauma may influence why some heritage-languages aren’t passed down. She said inclusive language education can contribute to community building, cultural identity preservation and address challenges related to generational influence and how families pass down heritage.
Students can express their support by signing the request form through the SGLC Instagram page.
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