WKU is proposing to shut down its Arabic language program because of a lack of primary instructors and a significant enrollment decline, the dean of Potter College confirmed Monday.

Students already enrolled in the program will be able to complete their degrees, but WKU has asked the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges – WKU’s accrediting agency, known as SACSCOC – for permission to close the program, Dean Terrance Brown said.

“We’ve had to pivot quickly to determine the future of Arabic and its role in the university due to the sudden loss of its primary instructors. The plan is to teach out the remaining students in the bachelor’s program, pending discussions” with the accrediting agency, Brown said in an email. “This plan is not official without approval from SACSCOC.” 

Besides losing primary instructors, Brown said in the email, the Arabic program in the Department of Modern Languages also has seen its enrollment drop to the point WKU must reconsider whether the program remains a strategic priority. 

According to the SACSCOC website: “If an institution decides to close an educational program, site, branch campus, or the entire institution, it must consider the following options: The institution teaches out currently enrolled students; no longer admits students to programs; and terminates the program, the operations of a site or a branch campus, or the operations of an institution after students have graduated. The institution must submit to the Commission a teach-out plan for approval.”