Arguing that South Asia is playing an increasingly more significant role in world affairs, a group of students is advocating an expanded academic curriculum focused on the region.

Some students have complained about the lack of resources available at Duke for studying the area and have formed the Duke South Asian Studies Initiative group on Facebook to address their concerns. The group's profile states that Duke offers fewer study abroad opportunities, courses, faculty and foreign languages related to South Asia than its peer institutions.

"I think that Duke is trying to give us an education that is globally relevant, but this is a part of the world that isn't getting the attention that it has deserved," said senior Shawn Kwatra, creator of DSASI and copresident of Diya, Duke's South Asian students association. Kwatra is also a member of The Chronicle's independent editorial board.

There are approximately 230 members in the group.

Currently, the University only offers Hindi as a modern South Asian language and has no South Asian specialty programs. Other institutions such as Yale University, Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University, however, all offer South Asian concentrations and at least three modern South Asian languages, with Penn offering 13.

In order to promote a stronger emphasis on South Asian studies, DSASI has outlined a few short- and long-term measures that the University could take. Its foremost suggestion is that Duke create a South Asian concentration or certificate program that would facilitate an interdisciplinary approach to studying South Asian history, economics, politics, culture, religion and literature.

The group has also recommended that Duke broaden its South Asian-related foreign language course offerings, recruit more visiting professors specializing in the discipline and organize a South Asian studies committee composed of faculty and students.

For the long term, DSASI asks that the University hire more faculty specializing in South-Asian related issues as well as build a center for South Asian studies on Central Campus. Kwatra said the center would ideally resemble the Freeman Center for Jewish Life.

Premlata Vaishnava, a lecturer in Asian and African Languages and Literature who teaches elementary and intermediate Hindi, said there has been an increase in student interest in studying South Asian culture and languages. Although she said she would like to see at least two nonlanguage courses offered per semester on South Asia, there are currently only two professors who teach these courses.

"We don't have enough faculty to teach South Asian courses," Vaishnava said. "Since I came here, the number of students [taking first- and second-year Hindi] has greatly increased. Between [me and Associate Professor Satendra Khanna] we teach all of the language courses, and so we don't have time to teach [additional courses that address culture and society]."

Kwatra said having a strong connection with South Asia would also allow the Pratt School of Engineering to profit from partnerships with leaders in technology, help the Fuqua School of Business enhance its global programs and assist the health and outreach efforts of Duke University Medical Center.

Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, said although there are many interesting opportunities Duke can pursue, it cannot allocate resources toward all of them.

"Whatever is out there and can be done exceeds a university's capability," he said. "At Duke we have expectations of really doing something well. In a typical year we may get 60 requests for new department positions and our resources won't enable us to do all 60."

Despite receiving numerous requests to hire faculty and establish programs, Thompson said eight new certificate programs have been created in the last three years, so the creation of a certificate program in South Asian studies is feasible if faculty interests align and offering the specialty is shown to be advantageous for Duke.

"There has been a history of students being interested in having courses that address their particular cultures and experiences," he said. "One would have to make the intellectual argument in the competition for University resources that it isn't just that it's a good thing to do, but that it's beneficial for Duke in the sense of meeting a strategic objective and doing it well."

Thompson said he would welcome meeting with DSASI about its proposal.

He plans to meet with Duke Student Government, garner student interest and then present his plan to the administration.

Freshman Daniel Moss said he has noticed a high population of South Asian students at Duke, adding that the University should try to accommodate student interest in the area if it can.

"I don't know the process of creating a new major, but it seems inconvenient," he said. "But instead if you could try to create an independent study or certificate for the particular area that could work."