Re: compensation

[csjhs@eiu.edu (Jeanne H. Simpson)]

Sara

You're right:  no whining.  The facts need to be presented, and in the
context of institutional goals.  The message came from a small liberal
arts college, if I recall correctly.  For such institutions, retention is
an extremely serious issue.  When the survival line depends on keeping as
few as 25 students, there is strong argument for putting resources,
however slender, into programs that improve retention.  Writing Centers
and WAC are key elements in both recruitment and retention.  It is
penny-wisdom not to support them sufficiently to do the job.   


The question, how much reassigned time/compensation are we talking about,
is a good question.  And the activities are well defined, up to the point
where the position begins to include activities such as poetry readings. 
I know just how much time scheduling and arranging something like a
reading actually requires.  Too much for a writing center director to be
distracted with it away from more central duties.  That element ought to
be given to somebody else--the creative writing teacher, if there is one,
for example.  


Jeanne Simpson
csjhs@eiu.edu