SDP chartered at MU

David Smith
news editor

Three Millikin students were recently inducted into the Sigma Delta Pi (SDP) Spanish honors fraternity, creating a new chapter of the only national organization of its kind in the United States.

Those three students—President Cassandra Sabo, Vice President Lucian Tiberio, and Secretary Katie Nafziger—are building the foundation for a student organization that may eventually prove to be one of the university’s most important.

“Recently the university’s focus has been on areas other than the department of modern languages,” Sabo said. “We would like to shift that focus back to the department.”

In the past two years, budget cuts and similar concerns have caused Millikin to cut funding for the department of foreign languages, forcing the department to offer fewer classes in some languages and cease classes in others—such as German—altogether. Members hope the new society will help revive interest in the department and in foreign languages in general among students and administration alike.

“We wanted to raise awareness about the department of modern languages, but we also wanted to raise awareness about how important Spanish is in and out of the U.S., how often it’s used.” Nafziger said. “All three of us have spent extended periods of time in Spanish-speaking nations, and we know how many job opportunities there are for Spanish speakers—even for those with only a minor.”

“It is also good to be able to recognize the students who are already studying Spanish at Millikin,” Sabo said, “to reward them and get them to work together.”

The department of foreign language’s new chair, Dr. Eduardo Cabrera, has been highly instrumental in the establishment of the chapter and extremely supportive of the department overall, Sabo said.

“Cabrera is doing a lot to develop the [modern language] program at Millikin so we can get over the problems we’ve had in the past.”

Sigma Delta Pi was established in 1919 at the University of California at Berkeley and has widespread membership throughout the United States. Since its establishment, the organization’s website stated, SDP “has expanded its activities and now has over 500 chapters. Almost all state universities have chapters, and the few that do not are now considering the founding of one.”

With the creation of its own chapter, Millikin joins a list of schools that includes Stanford University, Marquett University and Brown University.

Beginning a new chapter of such a well-established organization has been exciting for everyone involved at Millikin.

“It’s a huge honor to be a charter member of any honors society, so when [professor of Spanish Luis] Peralta asked me to join I said, ‘of course.’” Nafziger said. “I had the grades, had spent the summer in the Dominican Republic, and am really interested in Latin-American cultures, so it is a great organization for me. I jump at anything that has to do with Spanish.”

The organization has strict requirements for establishing new chapters; for a school to be considered, it must “be in good standing, unconditionally approved by a regional accrediting association, must offer at least twenty-four hours, or the equivalent, of Spanish courses, and must nominate three or more students for active charter membership who have completed the requirements to join including, having a 3.0 GPA in all Spanish Courses, rank in the upper 35 percent of their class, have completed at least three semesters or five quarters of college work.”

Having met all of the requirements, Sabo, Tiberio and Nafziger were nominated, and are now the charter members of Millikin’s chapter of SDP.

Students interested in becoming part of SDP can contact professor Luis Peralta or president Cassandra Sabo for more information.

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