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Syracuse University’s Academic Strategic Plan, “Leading With Distinction,” commits the university to five areas of “distinctive and aspirational excellence.” One of these areas is “global diversity.”

The plan describes SU as “a leader in global engagement” and “a national leader in international education.”

“The University commits to embedding in all activities the values of internationalization,” the strategic plan states. “The implications of this commitment are significant. Living these values is the responsibility of every member of our campus community and requires a collective effort.”

This strategic plan was adopted in September 2023 and remains in force. Yet last month, the university cut the number of foreign language majors in half as a result of the academic portfolio review. Going forward, students will only be able to major in three European Romance languages: French, Italian and Spanish. The French and Italian Bachelor of Arts programs will consolidate into a rebranded world languages and cultures B.A.

With these new cuts, the gap between SU and our peer institutions has grown larger.

The portfolio review was explicitly “not a cost-cutting exercise” and focused primarily on programs with low student demand, Vice Chancellor and Provost Lois Angew wrote in a campus-wide email. SU isn’t alone in facing declining enrollment in foreign languages, nor in subjecting language........

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