Re: Another reason for needing accreditation

[Kevin Davis <kdavis@mailclerk.ecok.edu>]

Joan, 
You suggest that " our national association, with the number of
constiuents, the journals and now the press, does constitute a group that will
be listened to if an assessment by NWCA is done professionally" How do we know
this?  Have any examples of departments calling NWCA for advice on, say, how to
kill a "bad" writing center?  Or how to fire a director?  A respected, impartial
group will be called upon for that type of advice.  Or are the calls coming from
people interested in WCs wanting info on starting/supporting one?  Last I
checked--and it's been a while--grad schools in our OWN areas were unwilling to
consider WCs as a field in and to themselves, in part because of the nature of
the publications and the fact that our organization is a "constituent"
organization, not a free standing one.

You also suggest the value of accreditation to groups like North Central. 
Again, have any examples?  I do not know of any field where the people in the
field chose themselves to accredit themselves and then were taken seriously.  Do
you?  Things like education and nursing are accredited by outside organizations
appointed by government agencies, not self-selected.  

Joan, I am not at all opposed to accreditation.  But I have yet to see any
salient argument showing that any administrator or larger accrediting
organization will take anything we do to ourselves seriously. 

kevin