Sik Lee Dennig, Stanford University's sole lecturer in Cantonese
More than 3,200 people have signed a petition opposing Stanford University’s decision to terminate the contract of the university’s only lecturer in Cantonese. The petition argues that Stanford should instead make further investments in the Cantonese language program not only for academic reasons but also in light of the university’s commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion and its historical debt to Cantonese-speaking Chinese migrant railroad workers whose labor contributed to university founder Leland Stanford’s fortune.
While Stanford has now publicly committed to offer two Cantonese courses per quarter in the 2021-22 academic year, to be taught by hourly lecturers, the petition argues that the termination of Sik Lee Dennig, a lecturer who has taught Cantonese continuously at Stanford since 2001, “effectively erases the program.”