Hello all,
I have been following this discussion with rising indignation and disgust. At the same time, I’m grateful that we at U of T are positioned within academic units
that offer some modicum of security (thank you Margaret Procter for your hand in that!). As I consider how to respond, I find I have some structural questions, particularly as we hear the president’s response:
1.
Who did Boba report to? If the decision was made by the “budget manager”, this allows the president a modicum of distance (and a pretense of neutrality).
2.
What roles did Boba play? How was her time allocated between “management” vs. “tutoring” vs. “faculty consulting/training” and “training of tutors”?
3.
Structurally, did the centre at Laurier use student ‘peer tutors’ or ‘professional’ tutors or some other model? And what is happening to these people
(given the president’s claim that the work of the writing centre will continue unimpeded)?
I would feel like I was in a better position to respond with full vitriol if I better knew these structural questions. Emmy, or someone else close to the Laurier
scene, could you let us know?
Thanks
Rob Irish
From: CASDW-ACR - Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse
and Writing [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Margie Clow Bohan
Sent: March 15, 2015 12:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CASDW-ACR] clarification -- RE: [CASDW-ACR] Letter of protest to Laurier from CASDW
Good afternoon everybody,
It has been an amazing reaction to Boba’s situation – for all the right reasons. I am disturbed about the whole thing, and yet very
proud of our three associations and member activism. Something seems to have changed at universities in the past few years, as Doreen noted. I thought the emphasis on so-called business practices and models was just at my institution. There are too many poorly
designed evaluations, too much tension between administrators and faculty/faculty supports, and no understanding and appreciation of our work. A climate of fear has arisen: fear of intimidation, fear of centre and departmental cuts, and fear of job losses.
(I write this note with a feeling that somebody from Student Services is looking over my shoulder saying “oh, I wouldn’t get involved. It may be dangerous [to you].)
I hope that Boba’s situation improves. I hope, also, that at our upcoming conferences we have the chance to discuss the larger context
so that we feel strengthened for the struggle. All our students deserve better.
Margie
From: CASDW-ACR - Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse
and Writing [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Doreen Starke-Meyerring
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2015 3:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CASDW-ACR] clarification -- RE: [CASDW-ACR] Letter of protest to Laurier from CASDW
Thank you, Jo-Anne, for doing this on behalf of CASDW. If there is anything I can help with, I’d be happy to do so. What a terrible
situation--I can’t even imagine what this must be like for Boba.
I think you are right: this is part of a very disturbing broader trend with particularly deep implications for anyone in Writing
Studies. I wonder if there is something we might be able to do or develop as a support mechanism in anticipation of this continuing trend?
Doreen
From: CASDW-ACR - Canadian Association
for the Study of Discourse and Writing [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Jo-Anne Darlene Andre
Sent: March-13-15 1:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CASDW-ACR] clarification -- RE: [CASDW-ACR] Letter of protest to Laurier from CASDW
For those of you who didn’t scroll down in my message, or who aren’t on the CWCA or CASLL lists, I should have made clear that Boba’s
termination was part of a cut of 22 support staff jobs at Laurier. Apparently some of the other cuts involved the school’s printing press.
Clearly and disturbingly, writing centre administrators in support staff positions are vulnerable to the new university corporate
way of thinking that all managers are interchangeable--and dispensable when budget cuts are in play. As Emmy Misser noted in her letter to the local newspaper (linked below), writing centres are an essential service and their administrators perform an essential
service.
Like you, I was shocked and saddened to hear that Boba Samuels, the writing centre manager in the Student Success Center at Wilfrid Laurier University,
had her job terminated this week. This is a huge loss for Laurier and its students, and in the next day or two, on behalf of CASDW, I will be writing a letter to the president of Laurier protesting this short-sighted cut. I will also note Boba's many valuable
contributions to CASDW including her current role as vice-president and conference chair.
On 03/13/15, Margaret Procter <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
Dear Inkshed colleagues:
I'm shocked to learn that Wilfrid Laurier University has just terminated the position of its writing-centre manager Boba Samuels. She was told on Tuesday that her position was redundant and immediately escorted off-campus, along with several other staff members
in other university positions.
The former (and now retired) manager Emmy Misser wrote a scathing letter to a Waterloo newspaper asking the university's president to explain this decision: http://www.therecord.com/opinion-story/5474412-an-essential-service/.
Emmy encourages other people in the writing-studies community outside Laurier to let the administration know that we value writing-centre work and deplore this cut. She notes that the service is a highly efficient small operation: "An attack on writing is fundamentally
an anti-intellectual move. Is that what Laurier now is about?"
The contact page for WLU senior administration is http://wlu.ca/about/senior-leadership/index.html,
and a link at the bottom of the page leads to a Faculty and Staff Directory with a search function for email addresses. I'm going to write the president Dr. Max Blouw myself, and hope many others will join me.
Should CASLL as an organization also take this up?
Margaret Procter
(retired) University of Toronto
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