Montgomery and Hindi

At several public appearance during her campaign, including presidential debates, Kim Montgomery has mentioned her work in bringing Hindi language classes to NU next fall. This letter casts doubt on her actual involvement with the legislation, therefore questioning the way in which she has represented herself during her campaign.

As the author of ASG’s Hindi legislation last Spring and one of the people actively pursuing course offerings in that language, I feel I must address a statement made by ASG Presidential Candidate Kim Montgomery. Ms. Montgomery has been informing students at the debates and elsewhere that she is responsible for bringing a pilot program in Hindi to NU. This is categorically untrue. Ms. Montgomery sat on Hindi, i.e., did nothing toward the implementation of the legislation. At the school level, the AAAB leadership was able to secure a commitment from the CAS administration in October 1997. This plan received funding only after an impassioned plea to the Board of Trustees by SASA Senator Manu Bhardwaj on February 7, 1998. Within days of his action, we were informed of Hindi being instituted. AAAB further learned from CAS Associate Dean for Languages Christopher Herbert that Ms. Montgomery has not discussed the Hindi issue with him in “months.” I feel that Ms. Montgomery has been misrepresenting herself to the student body in her bid for the presidency of ASG. The credibility of our student government has been tarnished enough; we hardly need this to be exacerbated.

Sathyan Sundaram
CAS ‘98