Every morning from Monday to Thursday, Latin 305 professor Vanessa Schmitz-Siebertz kicks off her class by writing four English words on the board and asking students to tell her their roots. On Oct. 27, those words were punish, orient, nutrition and abortion.
Hands shot up and as Schmitz-Siebertz went down the list, she didn’t have to wait long for a student to offer an answer.