American Sign Language instructor Andrew R. Bottoms was concerned that he would not have enough students to fill Linguistics 73a: “Beginning American Sign Language 1,” the first ASL class Harvard has offered in more than 20 years.

To his surprise, Bottoms estimated at least 70 students showed up on the first day to vie for the 15 spots available.

“I can’t even explain that feeling,” he said, through an interpreter, of having students overflowing the classroom and sitting on the floor and on top of desks. “I certainly knew American Sign Language was a class that was in high demand, but I was not expecting this.”

Various student and faculty efforts, including a 2014 Undergraduate Council referendum to support the campaign for ASL courses, culminated in Harvard’s announcement this summer that it would reintroduce ASL into its course offerings. More.

See: The Harvard Crimson

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