Periscope

At about the same time, several courses in advanced Italian that were offered last year have since been discontinued.

Dr. Gritti's story puts the system of recruiting professors under scrutiny. He, along with other part-time lecturers has been replaced by lower-paid part-time instructors as part of cost-cutting measures.

"Owing to budget cuts, the Department is going to employ instructors instead of lecturers to teach the European languages," Dr. Gritti said. "Doing so would inevitably lower the quality of teaching."

He is not the only person questioning the hiring policy.

"I know it's a trend for the university to employ more and more part-time lecturers, but it is not necessarily the way it should turn out to be," said Mr. Parry Leung, the president of the Chinese University's Students' Union.

Prof. Alain Charles Rezelman, an assistant professor teaching French, disagreed.

"I think it's a natural progress for university to recruit more and more part-time professors since the budget is less than before," he said. "There were only two universities in Hong Kong before, but now the number of universities has increased. That means the budget shared in each university has decreased."

Part-time lecturers are not the only things falling prey to budget cuts, however.

Recently, some students wrote a big-character poster headed "Doomsday of the European Languages" and posted it outside the Franklin Building on the Chinese University campus. The poster expressed their discontent over the discontinuation of several sections of advanced Italian.

Mr. Barry Chau, a Year 2 chemistry student, was among the disgruntled students. He said that he was deprived of his chance to learn Italian.

Having taken Italian I and gone to Italy to study Italian this summer, Barry wants to keep studying Italian, but he can find no way to do so at the Chinese University.

"If I want to continue to study Italian, I will have to learn it outside the university and pay extra fees. It is unfair," said he.

Added Dr. Gritti: "Professor Kwok Siu Tong, dean of the Faculty of Arts, promised me that the Department would offer intermediate Italian to students, provided that there are enough students taking the course."

According to Chinese University policy, if there are fewer than four students opting to take a course, it will be cancelled.

"We have enough students. Why do they cancel the course?" asked Dr. Gritti. "It's unfair to the students because when they took Italian I, I told them that if they put effort into it, they could take Italian II. Some of them even got scholarships to study in Italy this summer."

Dr. Gritti said 18 students want to take Italian II, but no course was provided.

Prof. Wong Kin Yuen, chairman of the Department of Modern Languages and Intercultural Studies, said that the cancellation of some of the courses was due to budget cuts.

"E-mails have been sent to the students, but so far we have gotten no reply," said he.

Prof. Wong said he did not know about the discontent among students.

However, Barry said he never received the e-mail message. He said he found Prof. Wong's explanation unconvincing.

"I am sure that Dr. Gritti has fought for us. How could he not have known about it?" asked Barry.

Dr. Gritti is now giving the students a free Italian course, partly because he wants to deliver his promise to the students and partly because of his enthusiasm for teaching.

In a telephone interview, Chinese University Vice-Chancellor Arthur Li said that Italian courses were cut because Italian was less popular than other European languages.

Mr. Leung objected to this reasoning.

"What does 'university' mean? It means a place which allows us to learn, gives all the students an equal opportunity to learn and to receive education," he said. "If the less popular courses are cancelled, then it would be unfair to the students."

Dr. Gritti added that just because Italian is not a popular language in Hong Kong does not mean it is unimportant.

"They told me that Italian was not important when they cut the courses," he said. "How could they say such kind of things? Italian is the cradle of all Roman language. To say that Italian is not important is just like saying that Chinese is not important."

Prof. Franco Gritti is unhappy with the cancellation of the Italian course.
(Tom Ho)

The wallpost "Doomsday of the European Language" is posted by students outside the Franklin Building at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
(May Chan)