Earlier this term, the Carleton Off Campus Studies Office launched a new program, “Carleton Intensive Spanish in Soria” for summer of 2016. The program was expected to be led by Palmar Alvarez Blanco and was created for Spanish students wanting to complete their 204-level course abroad, providing Spanish classes at a university in Soria, as well as civic engagement courses and guaranteed internship opportunities at the Red Cross or a local hospital. However, due to lack of interest, this program had been canceled, upsetting its applicants.

Kevin Murphy ’19, one of the applicants, spent several hours completing the application, thinking that the program would have been perfect to help him practice his Spanish, and to engage him in his pre-med track.

Helena Kaufman, Director of the Off Campus Studies Office, believes that the low number of applicants can be explained by the fact that the Soria program is aimed at students who have not yet completed the 204-level, who would mostly be freshmen not yet ready to study abroad. She also explains that off campus programs sometimes are canceled either due to safety and security concerns or a lack of interest, since a limited budget would not deliver a quality program. Kaufman reassures that, with the cancellation of any program, the OCS offers free advising for applicants to find another program or make other plans.