As a student who graduated from Ohio State in electrical and computer engineering in 2001, and a master’s student in electrical engineering, I completely disagree with the opinions of Joey Maresca in his Friday editorial, “Accents are hurdles to speech.”
Maresca argues that, in OSU’s continuing efforts towards diversity, the diversity of faculty is inevitable. As a result, computer science and electrical engineering have some of the most diverse faculty in the university.
I do not know if this statement is true. What I do know is that in a technical field such as electrical engineering or computer science, I would be disappointed if OSU and its departments did not recruit the best faculty available in these disciplines, no matter what country the faculty member came from.
Maresca argues that the quest for diversity at our university has led to professors and teaching associates who are unintelligible and hinder the ability of students to learn. In my four years as an undergraduate, and my first year as a graduate student, I have never experienced unintelligible babble or pseudo-English from any instructors. I have never felt that the diversity of OSU has hindered my ability to the learn. To the contrary — I have learned from it.
Erin File graduate teaching associate in engineering
