WC as student advocate?

[Mary Wislocki <mapedaan@worldnet.att.net>]

Dear all,

I'd like your collective brain power to help me think about a really messy,
confusing and toxic situation -- in other words, academia at its worst. I'm
beginning to realize (starting my 2nd year as director) that the WC  may be
"about" working with writing and writers, but the larger truth is that
because we provide students with a space to be taken seriously, the WC is
also about witnessing a whole host of human struggles.  Sometimes these
struggles spill off the page and end up in our laps. I'm wondering about my
responsibilities -- what I can or should do. 

This is the situation:  One of my best consultants has been working with an
ESL graduate student who is writing her dissertation.  When the grad.
student came to her appointment this week, she said she was very upset about
what was happening to her in her dept., and so they talked.  She said that
she is one of the few female grad students in her dept and that she has been
supported by a particular scholarship for the past 4 years. She was denied
the scholarship this year, despite the Dean's recommendation, because the
prof. who administers the scholarship is very powerful and against her.  She
said he has a history of harassing women students -- in fact, he was charged
with sexual harassment a few years ago by several female grad students, but
his powerful connections kept him from being dismissed.  Evidence of his
harassment was in a notice about her that he had written and publically
posted.(I don't know what it said.) To complicate matters, she had given an
important notebook  to one of her grad advisors.  Both had been working on
the same problem -- he had not been able to solve it, but she had. He still
has the notebook and she doesn't know how to retrieve it.  And there's more
-- she doesn't have a green card.  Without a green card, her options for
earning money are slim.

This is the short and fairly clear version of the story. I believe that the
student is extremely bright -- and that she is telling us what she believes
to be the truth. But her problems with communicating in English make me
doubly cautious in trying to assess her situation.  Her stated wish is not
to bring charges against the prof who denied her the scholarship -- she has
too much at stake and she thinks she would lose anyway.  She wants help
getting the notebook back.

The consultant was wonderful.  She said that they would make a paper trail
and document everything, beginning that session. She started a loose file in
the grad. student's WC folder -- but she asked the student to do the same
for herself, in another place.  The consultant suggested going to see the
advisor who has the notebook and asking for it back. If that doesn't work,
she will help her write a letter during a WC session.  

This is a huge school and I don't know a soul in this particular graduate
department. However, I do know someone at the university who knows the ropes
and women's rights. I was notified officially at the beginning of the year
that when administrators are told about instances of sexual harassment, we
must report them up the chain. I want to go really slow here. Once I get
sucked into the administrative machinery, we'll all lose any control. 

So, thank you for bearing with me in this long tale.  I'm grateful for any
suggestions or cautions! 

Thanks,

Mary Wislocki