To watch a video of this event click here.

This event is free and open to the public, no RSVP or registration required. The event will take place in the Maison Francaise, Buell Hall. (Campus entrance at 116th Street and Broadway.)

Does French still matter? If so, why? This roundtable discussion is a response to recent concerns about the status of the study of French and other foreign languages and cultures in U.S. higher and secondary education at a time of increasing globalization. Five leading voices in different fields bring a variety of perspectives to bear in a lively discussion about why French matters today.

•Adam Gopnik, writer and essayist for The New Yorker magazine
•Charles Kolb, President of the Committee for Economic Development
•Rosemary Feal, Executive Director of the Modern Language Association and Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Languages, University at Buffalo, SUNY (on leave)
•Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor of French and Philosophy at Columbia University
•Antonin Baudry, Cultural Counselor, French Embassy in the U.S.

This event is fully sponsored by the Florence Gould Foundation.