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HorodateurName (optional):Role at IU (student, parent, relative, faculty, staff, alumnus/a, friend, other):I am an IU student and I am studying a foreign language because… Other comments:
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Link to petitionNicolas ValazzaFaculty
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16/08/2025 19:32:44Lilia BrunettiAlumna
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16/08/2025 19:36:09Matt SeniorColleague in French at other universityThe language departments at IU are some of the best in the US. Very distinguished professors at the forefront of their fields. Very impressive and well professionalized PhD students.
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16/08/2025 19:40:31alumniLearning another language has always been a passion of mine. I am truly grateful for the experience I had with the French and Italian Department at IU Bloomington and I want this opportunity to be present for future students as well.
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16/08/2025 19:53:39Alison CalhounFacultyProfessor of languages at IU as well as opera historian interested in the languages' relationship to music making! Can't imagine Bloomington without robust language learning!
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16/08/2025 20:29:08Amy Graves Monroe R1 AAU colleague
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16/08/2025 20:54:43Emily RenAlumniI took German and it was the best decision I made in college. Added richness in my life SAVE IU LANGUAGES
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16/08/2025 21:57:27Elizabeth ElmiAlumnaI earned my masters degree in Italian at IU in 2009. IU offers a level of foreign language study that is unparalleled and the decisions being made to eliminate this incredible resource are shortsighted and wrong.
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17/08/2025 00:03:33Student I want to be more engaged with the world.
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17/08/2025 05:19:36Richard Shryockfriend
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17/08/2025 07:10:12Nessa Voss Alumna
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17/08/2025 07:46:14Alisha ReavesAlumnaIndiana is known internationally for its language programs. Their loss is a great loss for the university and the state. Also, having taught for the IUHPFL program, this “hiatus” will deprive Indiana high school students of a unique opportunity to develop their language skills and expand their world knowledge.
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17/08/2025 09:08:38Jessica MerrittStudentStudying foreign languages has been an integral part of my Ph.D. research, and aquiring these skills has expanded by ability to think about, interact with, and understand the world in a broader sense. Foreign language education brings people together who otherwise might never meet; it is a mechanism for cultivating empathy, respect, knowledge, and friendship across cultural and geo-political boundaries. It is an essential part of a science and humanities education; and, ultimately, it makes us all more humane.
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17/08/2025 09:44:55wayne winstonfaculty
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17/08/2025 12:09:38Dr. Molly DoranAlumna
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17/08/2025 13:41:43K MFriendLearning a second language helps me understand nuances and subtleties and the richness of my first language too.
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17/08/2025 15:55:48Benjamin RobinsonFaculty
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17/08/2025 16:18:06Susan HyattProfessor EmeritaLearning foreign languages is key to maintaining a global community, something that is particularly important in this fraught era. When I was on the faculty at Temple University, I had PhD students who went to Indiana’s summer language program to study languages that are generally not taught anywhere else. Losing this strength at IU Bloomington is an incalculable loss. All students should have familiarity with a range of languages. In addition to losing language instruction at IU Indianapolis, we have also lost the ASL program, which also played a critical role in offering students the ability to learn other modes of communication. Any great university needs to have strong Humanities programs and the study of languages is an invaluable element of such curricular offerings.
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17/08/2025 16:19:56Elizabeth NelsonFaculty and AlumnaI am an IU Indianapolis faculty member and a former IU Bloomington student who took courses in French, as well as some Italian and German, during my time there. Not only was this training essential for my PhD in History and my subsequent career, the study of languages was a portal into lifeways, cultures, and worldviews beyond my own. All students studying at IU should have the opportunity to access global perspectives in this way - this is the kind of teaching that should be at the core of the university's mission, not only because it opens up job pathways (which it does) but also because it expands minds.
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17/08/2025 16:47:59Maria BucurFacultyAll of my graduate students were able to complete their research by learning languages at IU. They were competitive in the job market after graduation due in part to these skills. I am no longer able to recruit anyone based on these unique strengths.
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17/08/2025 17:06:38Marshall HousermanFormer staff/alumnusIU is a beacon of foreign language learning and it would be a shame to not continue to hold this distinction. Protect the languages and promote IU!!
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17/08/2025 17:06:59Andy Brunofaculty
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17/08/2025 17:08:56Nikki WenckAlumnus Language learning is important as it not only improves communication and the ability to connect, it expands the mind and awareness of cultures.
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17/08/2025 17:12:30Leah ShopkowChair of the Department of HistoryThe History department relies heavily on language instruction for our graduate students, who pursue their research in many parts of the world. My own field requires at a minimum two modern and one ancient language. The son of a friend planning to become an African historian actually came here one summer to study Kiswahili. Languages have been one of the great glories of Indiana University-Bloomington.
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17/08/2025 17:18:44Amrita Chakrabarti Myers Faculty
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17/08/2025 17:27:50Scott WMarylandI have worked with graduates of IU's exceptional language programs and their talent and service are unmatched.
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17/08/2025 17:50:49Patrick MichelsonFacultyI took the Russian intensive program at IU's Summer Language Workshop back in the summer of 1991. It not only prepared me for my semester abroad at Moscow State University in the fall of 1991 (and several return trips). It also put me on the path of being an associate professor at IU, where I now teach and study the history of Russian Orthodoxy. Language study is key to exploring and engaging the world.
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17/08/2025 18:16:05Laura Morreale, Washington, DCFriend; Colleague of IU Foreign Language FacultyForeign languages help you think about yourself and the world in new ways, and maybe even to be a different person in a different language. Everyone should have the chance to explore how language help you think and see a different version of yourself.
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17/08/2025 18:25:04Jill MassinoIU alumna, PhD 2007 IU is one of the only university's in the US that offers Romanian. Without my language study at IU, I would not be where I am today.
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17/08/2025 20:23:02Lara Kriegelfaculty
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17/08/2025 20:30:41Elizabeth Kryder-ReidParentOur three daughters minored in French at IU, along with their respective majors, and the language instruction has had substantial benefits. One lived in France for a year. Another is about to start a graduate program in the EU in a field where foreign language skills are essential. A third found French to be instrumental in her art history studies. In addition to our family’s experience, I’m
familiar with the important work in Native American languages and the impact it is having on tribal communities and scholars. Do not throw away the decades of investment in building these programs and erode the benefits for IU students and alums who are attracted to the university because of its rich language instruction.
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17/08/2025 22:31:27Kathryn GraberAssociate Professor of Anthropology and Central Eurasian StudiesI cane to study languages at IU over the summer long before I joined the faculty, because it was (and is) simply the best place to do it. This is what makes IU IU!
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18/08/2025 04:16:54Kaia KAlumnaI studied Spanish and graduated in 2023. I chose to study a foreign language because I wanted to develop my own understanding on a culture I’ve long admired. For me, language is more than just communication—it's a direct perspective how people think, connect, and live. Now, I live in Mexico, and the learning hasn’t stopped. I believe that learning a language is learning about a culture, and learning about a culture is ultimately learning more about the world—and your place in it. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the degree I got at IU and the professors who helped me get here.
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18/08/2025 07:24:55Jenna S.StudentIt enriches my studies and my career path. IU is such a unique gift when it comes to the language skill and knowledge of such a diverse variety of languages.
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18/08/2025 07:41:40Mary Scottalum
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18/08/2025 08:41:24Sara Greggfaculty
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18/08/2025 08:51:55Beth BuggenhagenfacultyTo be competitive in national grants and fellowships we and our students must pursue foreign languages, and often proficiency in less commonly taught languages are what sets us apart from other grantees.
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18/08/2025 09:36:56PhD StudentIt is essential for my research to understand societies that do not speak English as native language
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18/08/2025 09:37:40Filip MitricevicStudent
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18/08/2025 09:39:38Peter GuardinoFacultyForeign language training is terrific for developing students' brains, and once they have that new power, they can harness it for many other tasks in life and work.
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18/08/2025 09:49:08Madeline StullPh.D. Candidate without language acquisition, my research and knowledge production is impossible.
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18/08/2025 09:55:59Danila KabotyanskiPhD Student
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18/08/2025 09:57:55Linda GarciaStudentI came to Indiana for the incredible reputation the university had for not only languages but for Area Studies programs in general. Language instruction is vital not only for practical uses in everyday life but expands an individual’s perspective and access to information. Please do not throw away these vital services, they add to the academic rigor of the university but more than that they provide students in the Midwest the opportunity to expand their horizons and ability to bring their skills to areas where language speakers are needed in the country or even internationally.
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18/08/2025 10:06:56Anna Biesecker-MastGraduate StudentThe strength and breadth of IU’s languages program was an important factor in my choice to pursue graduate study here. My research requires careful engagement with archival materials in potentially multiple languages, and IU offers the rigorous training I need to access and interpret these sources directly. Beyond the demands of my dissertation, I view language learning as crucial for fostering cross-cultural understanding and solidarity. To diminish or eliminate this program would be to undermine one of IU’s most distinctive and irreplaceable strengths.
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18/08/2025 10:13:43StudentAdditional language learning is scientifically proven to enhance cognitive abilities. Most importantly, secondary languages help people connect on a global scale. We rely on foreign language communication to effectively comprehend cultural differences. The elimination and suspension of foreign language programs is both vacuous and inhumane. Furthermore, English is not the only trade language spoken around the world. Dismantling these programs limits future students and sets them up for failure.
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18/08/2025 10:26:06Brock DeMarkGraduate Studentit is crucial to my research on the urban and environmental history of northern India and the role of Indian cities in the world. I spent two years studying Hindi at IU. Thanks to the support of my language teachers, I was able to compete for and secure nationally-competitive research funding---including a Fulbright-Nehru Student Research Fellowship to complete my dissertation research in India. Beyond my own research, learning Hindi has connected me with so many amazing people on campus and across Indiana who I otherwise would not have met. Language programs bridge the gap between nations, cultures, and disciplines by giving us the tools to not just communicate but empathize with each other. I am a better scholar and citizen for having had access to great language instruction at IU. Having spoken with several professors and graduate students at Indian institutions while completing my Fulbright grant, I know without a doubt that IU is internationally-recognized for its language programs. Cutting any of them would bode ill for both IU's reputation in the world and the abilities of its students to effect positive change in Indiana.
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18/08/2025 10:29:30Liam James KingsleyAlumnusI would never have been able to complete the historical research necessary for my dissertation without the flexible language education enabled by IU's status as a Title VI Language Resource Center.
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18/08/2025 10:40:06Melba KendrickParent of current PhD student Studying world languages is an integral part of being a first class university. Terminating these programs will, in fact, stifle mindsets and IU will not be the world class institution that it currently is. Our students deserve better than this and need the various options of world languages.
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18/08/2025 11:08:45Christopher BowersPh.D Student, Department of History
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18/08/2025 12:01:44Stephanie SterlingFriend of a studentI am not an IU student but I studied two languages in undergrad and it is more than just learning words and grammar, it’s connecting people through culture. Language studies broaden horizons through offering new perspectives in which to view and move through the world.
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18/08/2025 12:03:51Jon AdsitStudentIt is vital to understanding other cultures, history, and a world based on shared understanding.
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18/08/2025 12:04:41Maggie Fitzgerald graduate student i like to challenge english-centric narratives in the construction of historical archives. studying isizulu was pivotal to my history research. without this language program, i would not have been able to complete my oral history research in south africa.
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18/08/2025 12:17:51Mary F. PriceIU Community Scholar Indiana lags behind other states in terms of the percentage of households where English isn't the only language spoken at home. In 2023, 89.1% of households reprted English as the only languagr spoken at home. However, there are more 295 languages in addition to English spoken by students and families across Indiana. In schools, this translates into more than 140,000 students not including to other parts of life and business in our state. As part of Indiana's public education system, IU has a responsibility to ensure that educators and other professionals (health care, business, government, etc) have the capacities needed to span, as well as, leverage cultural and linguistic variation.

Exposure to another culture and learning a foreign lanaguage is a critical dimension of supporting "intellectual diversity" and effective collaboration

In addition, IUs suite of foreign language programs also contribute to preserving threatened languages and to supporting innovative research and innovations. The value of an academic program cannot be narrowly reduced to an arbitrary enrollment/graduation numbers.


Eliminating these programs diminishes Indiana's local support systems, weakens community ties and undermines Indiana's global competiveness.
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18/08/2025 12:21:56Jessica FosterStudentIn my field of Holocaust studies, proficiency in multiple foreign languages is essential. Holocaust survivors give their testimonies, and Holocaust scholars present their research, in many different languages. We cannot do our work without linguistic skills, and being able to develop these in-house at IU is really wonderful.
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18/08/2025 14:10:18Relative Learning foreign language is so important for understanding how we as humans communicate with each other, both within the same communities and interculturally. If it weren’t for foreign language studies, we’d be closing ourselves off and limiting our capacity for growth
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18/08/2025 14:41:21Susan Archibald-LucaParentI come from a country with 2 official languages and it can’t be overstated how important for recruiting and competitiveness in the world now and going forward it is for IU to have a strong department for studying languages and being able to prepare for life in the 21st century.
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18/08/2025 15:36:02Will T.Please keep these programs. If these changes go through, in addition to the more immediate negative consequences for undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff, the reputational harm done to IU will be irreversible.
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18/08/2025 15:36:59Cristina S.
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18/08/2025 15:37:28Alexandra N.
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18/08/2025 15:47:01
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18/08/2025 15:48:20Anna S. (Hong Kong)IU has been the famous centre of specialised language learning in the whole US! Why to destroy it? It is very easy to destroy but quite difficult to build, especially such a special institution. Once desintegrated, it will hardly ever exist in the US again.
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18/08/2025 15:48:34Abby W.
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18/08/2025 15:48:44Caroline B.
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18/08/2025 15:49:15Rachel M. (Czech Republic)
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18/08/2025 15:49:40Kaia K. (Mexico)
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18/08/2025 15:49:50Danielle B.
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18/08/2025 15:50:00Pyper D.
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18/08/2025 15:55:52Laura S.The IU classroom textbooks and research were important in my studies in grad school and helped me in many international roles such as for Fulbright and American Councils. So much important work has come of this domestically and internationally for U.S. institutions.
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18/08/2025 15:55:59Samuel H.
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18/08/2025 15:56:28Catalina M.
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18/08/2025 15:56:41
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18/08/2025 15:56:52Nina H.
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18/08/2025 15:57:19Languages are Indiana's claim to fame. So many of the country's top diplomats, national security officers and translators were trained there. This program is vital
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18/08/2025 15:57:49Dilrabo T.
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18/08/2025 15:57:56Rossen D.
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18/08/2025 15:58:15Alisa L.Languages are essential to ensure the success of our global community. The United States cannot succeed on its own.
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18/08/2025 15:58:45Kristen F.I learned Uzbek at IU, and I’m now one of very few native English speakers working as an Uzbek interpreter in the US. I could not have achieved this without IU’s language programs.
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18/08/2025 15:58:53Marta O.
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18/08/2025 15:59:37Eric S.AlumI am a proud IU alum, and my career has benefitted immeasurably from IU's language programs. Languages are a big part of what makes IU stand out among universities in the US. Hurting languages means limiting choices for students, throwing away IU's hard-earned reputation, and damaging IU's bottom line.
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18/08/2025 15:59:52mikayla t.
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18/08/2025 16:00:02Rosario G.
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18/08/2025 16:00:20Gabriela Alexandra B. (Romania)
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18/08/2025 16:00:49Ablet K. (Kazakhstan)
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18/08/2025 16:01:18Erin H.
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18/08/2025 16:01:39Madison C.Because of IU and its language programs, I was afforded a Fulbright that tied directly to my career now. I know I'm not the only one.
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18/08/2025 16:02:17Kathleen L.
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18/08/2025 16:02:27Lea H.
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18/08/2025 16:02:39Zachary W.
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18/08/2025 16:02:53David S.
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18/08/2025 16:03:09Luisa G. (Spain)
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18/08/2025 16:03:47Anonymous (Indiana)
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18/08/2025 16:03:54Anonymous (Indiana)
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18/08/2025 16:04:04Sean M.
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18/08/2025 16:04:13Akram H.
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18/08/2025 16:04:20Britta G.
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18/08/2025 16:04:28John R.
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18/08/2025 16:04:38Ian C.
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18/08/2025 16:04:46Kathy K.
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18/08/2025 16:04:54Marianne K.