What I said at the meeting

I've been asked to repeat here what I said at the dept. meeting last week: I think the lectureships would devalue writing, making it the Cinderella of the dept. in relation to the "real" sisters, literature. If there is any money for such lines (and this remains to be seen, given the current financial crisis), why can't we hire Asst. Profs to teach writing, just as we've done in the past? These new Assts needn't be Comp/Rhet specialists with PhDs. We have two tenured MFAs, PJ Gibson and Adam Berlin, who have been teaching writing all these years while getting their own work published. Unlike people who would take the lectureships, they have had access to grants, travel funds and release time, and have taught the same load as everyone else. I understand that the adjuncts need better jobs, more security, and health insurance. Why can't we give them all this as Asst Profs, hired to teach only writing? The initial start-up costs would be somewhat higher for the college, but we would not be setting up an inequitable system.

Yes, we already have an inequitable system with a large number of adjuncts teaching so much comp. Another solution to that is to ask every full-timer to teach some comp, the way the dept did regularly 25 years ago, back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. We had an English major when I first came to the college, yet every person taught half her load in comp. We were able to handle not only the courses required for the major, which I admit was very small, but also the required lit. and comp courses. Why can't we replicate that system or at least give it a try? If the current system is inequitable, isn't that because we have over the years relegated the teaching of freshmen to part-timers?

I am also opposed to the hiring of any more lecturers because of the crushing teaching load. Imagine: 4 or 5 sections of Comp. That's at least 100-125 writing students! How can one person deal with all those writing problems, not to mention the adjustment problems that one always encounters in freshmen? How can one person do all that teaching and STILL contribute in service to the dept. as outlined in the proposal? And this grueling load would not diminish, no release time, no way to buy oneself out of a course or two. I understand that many adjuncts handle such a load now, and at two or more schools to boot. But we do not expect them to provide us any other services.

Some have said we should grab at this chance to reduce our dependence on adjuncts, and I agree. Why can't we do so by adding, not Lecturers, but Asst Profs with MFAs?

Pat