Weighing in on Behalf of Students

As the to and fro over the lectureships continues, with various perspectives and suggestions offered by those in the department and the administration, I find this discussion group most enlightening. As a long-time fiction writer (now at work on my fourth book), an American cultural historian (my "social history of the 1940s" is due out later this fall) and a devoted teacher of writing and literature students like those at John Jay, I tend to find myself in Tom's corner, on behalf of putting the students first.

It strikes me that the teaching of writing--composition as well as creative writing, which I have taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels--calls for special commitment and talents. Someone has to be the Virgil who guides beginning students through the everyday aspects of literature; someone has to teach freshman and sophomore students that literature offers inklings of who they will meet in the world--the betrayer, the true believer, the weasel, the princeling--and someone needs to introduce them to characters they will some day recall better than their classmates, and help them learn to think clearly and express themselves with language. Writing is essential to a career in law enforcement or law. The themed 101 and 201 courses (I've chosen the theme of justice) seem an effective way of teaching it. The teaching of writing is the foundation upon which all else is built.

The adjunct tracking system in academia tends to devalue those who take this role, which is unfortunate. As an adjunct, I'm not able to speak with much ability to sway those in the department or administration who will decide what happens, so I'm pleased to have this chance to throw out a couple of thoughts, and for that my thanks.