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LOGAN — Utah's only master's program for teaching American Sign Language is now gone and people in the deaf community are scrambling for a solution.
Utah State University cut the program just days ago.
It was Utah's only program where future educators could learn how to teach various subjects through American Sign Language. That is why a lot of people are now fighting to get it back.
The classrooms are quiet. The kids depend on sign language to get through their daily lessons because cochlear implants may not be the best solution for all deaf children.
"I have this huge deficit in this side and I haven't had teachers to fill all those spots," said Michelle Tanner, associate superintendent of the deaf at Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind.
She said her only pipeline for new, qualified ASL teachers is now gone. "It's devastating. It's, in fact, most of the teachers here on the ASL English side, are teachers from Utah State University."
USU's College of Education and Human Services posted an explanation online for suspending the master's program. It cited a lapse in accreditation status that prompted a review that "showed that the program track was not operationally sound, preventing us from offering the high-quality education expected at Utah State University."
It's a tough blow to people like Savannah Sparks. "I was really disappointed, sad, angry," she said.
She planned to start in the program so she could become a deaf advocate. "This program is really helpful for those children that don't have all the answers that I had as a kid," Sparks explained.
"I was born hearing and I got sick at the age of 7 months," said Dereck Hooley who said the program helped him. "And that illness caused a profound deafness."
He called ASL his only option. "We felt like this is kind of cutting off our access to education and the variety of things that ripple from there."
Several thousand people already signed an online petition to bring the program back.
Tanner said she's also working with other Utah universities that could potentially start up a program of their own to take its place.
The dean of the college met with some deaf advocates Tuesday to discuss their concerns but it's not yet clear if any change will come out of that.
