Signing Off: The Elimination of Ithaca College’s Deaf Studies Program

This project examines Ithaca College’s decision to eliminate its Deaf Studies minor and all its American Sign Language (ASL) courses, sparking frustration across campus and in the community. While the move was described as part of financial restructuring, for many students and faculty, the loss raised questions about accessibility and inclusion.

For over twenty years, the Deaf Studies minor allowed students to study ASL and engage with deaf culture in a meaningful way. The program included courses like Introduction to Deafness, Deaf Culture, and ASL language, as well as community events where students practiced signing with local deaf citizens. Lisa Witchey, who taught ASL at Ithaca College for more than 25 years, described the program as one that built strong connections between students and the community. She also noted that faculty were not informed about the program’s elimination until March 2025, just months before classes were set to end.

Students described the program as both academically valuable and personally meaningful. Alex Hankey, a first-year student who studied ASL throughout high school, said he committed to Ithaca College in part because of the program. Brianna Morrison, now president of the I Sign club, had also planned to pursue the Deaf Studies minor and emphasized that ASL should be treated with the same importance as other languages. Jessie Romero-Silver, who had been enrolled in the minor, said ASL became especially important after she began losing hearing in one ear during her freshman year and helped her better understand both her own experience and the broader deaf community.

The significance of ASL extends far beyond the classroom. American Sign Language is a complete language with its own grammar and structure, used widely across the United States. According to the Rhode Island Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, ASL is the third most used language in the country, after English and Spanish, with more than 500,000 primary users and up to 7 million people using sign language in some capacity.

Enrollment in ASL courses has grown significantly, increasing from about 1,600 students in 1990 to over 108,000 by 2021. Despite this trend, Ithaca College chose to eliminate its program.

The removal also has implications beyond, including a shortage of certified interpreters. There are about 10,000 certified ASL interpreters in the United States serving roughly 500,000 deaf or hard-of-hearing users, creating a ratio of about 50 to 1. College programs often act as entry points into the profession.

Ithaca is less than two hours from Rochester, which has one of the largest deaf populations in the country, with an estimated 42,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. Despite this proximity, Ithaca has a much smaller deaf community, making programs like the Deaf Studies minor especially important for building connections.

Despite the loss of the program, students are working to keep ASL present on campus. The I Sign club, led by Brianna Morrison with Alex Hankey serving as treasurer and Gwen as outreach coordinator, reflects a student-driven effort to maintain engagement with the language and community.

Ultimately, this project highlights a larger issue in higher education: when budgets tighten, smaller programs and marginalized communities are often the first to be cut, raising questions about access, representation, and priorities.