Re: using wcs to raise money

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

My first question with regard to this proposal is by what criteria would
the writing center decide its priorities?  If a corporate client and a
student client both had needs at the same time and the writing center
staff could not meet both, how would the choice be made?

I have a concern that if the corporate client could cough up $1200 and the
student client had paid "only" tuition, the dollar sign might be the
driving force behind the decision.

Having said that, I will point out that many institutions, including ours,
offer educational services by contract to outside entities on a
cost-recovery basis.  Our school of adult and continuing education does
this all the time.  That is part of its defined mission.  Intensive
English language institutes do this also.

However, state supported institutions generally are barred from making a
profit.  The funds generated have to be used to support the project.  

I would not reject this idea of hand.  Instead, I'd play around with it
and see if some variant couldn't be invented that would work.  I can see
getting corporate support for a writing center, for example, in exchange
for naming the center (The Acme Widgets Writing Center has a nice ring to
it...) and for the center's providing X number of workshops/consultations
per year for the company's personnel.   The problem would be to define the
exact limits of the services and to make clear what the center's
priorities will be (to my mind, students at the institution should always
have priority).  Having corporate clients could be a significant advantage
for a writing center, for most institutions are loathe to alienate such
entities because of the money potential they offer.  Having Acme Widgets,
Inc as your friend could be really handy during a bad budget year.   

Perhaps a chat with someone on your campus who does cost-recovery or
contract credit work would give you some additional ideas.  Your grants
office might also know of some ways to combine grant and consulting work.

One other thought:  a priority of the Illinois Board of Higher Education
is having universities document how they engage in "preparation of the
workforce."    If we are teaching people to do jobs that exist and have a
high demand, they are happy.  If we are training people to make goose
quill pens, they are not too thrilled.  Involving corporate clients in our
educational processes would be one way of meeting this demand from the
board that approves our budget requests.  I suspect we are not the only
state or the only public institution facing this kind of pressure.

And a theme of my comments is that this kind of approach shouldn't be done
unilaterally, without consultation, from an English dept.  It will have to
involve other entities on your campus.

Jeanne Simpson
csjhs@eiu.edu