Language House opens to students learning ASL
By Kathy Hovis, College of Arts and Sciences
Students who want an immersive on-campus experience with American Sign Language (ASL) can now sign up to live in the Language House for the 2025-26 academic year.
The house, located within Toni Morrison Hall on North Campus, includes 44 students who are interested in language study. Next year, the house will include students speaking French, Spanish, Mandarin, Korean and now ASL.
“Having ASL at the Language House will solidify a signing community on campus, in addition to having more of an immersive experience with the language with a fluent ASL model,“ said Brenda Schertz, senior lecturer of ASL in the Department of Linguistics, in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S). “Students in the ASL section of Language House will have social and cultural opportunities, too, including organized events on campus and trips to Rochester, which has one of the largest Deaf communities per capita in the U.S.”