RE: WC as student advocate?

["Jeanne H. Simpson" <csjhs@ux1.cts.eiu.edu>]

Chauna,

Before determining the legal exposure of a tutor helping the student write a
letter of complaint,  the matter of whether a letter of complaint is the
appropriate action to take needs to be considered.  A letter of complaint
has the advantage of providing hard evidence that the student did complain.
And thereby requires the university to take action and to investigate.  On
the other hand once a document exists it takes on a life of its own, and
yes, the tutor would have some legal exposure, because he/she witnessed the
document in production and would have first-hand information about the
intent of the document.   Taking the student to the harassment officer (or
perhaps university ombudsman?) meets the same interest of getting the
complaint officially registered and does not create any legal exposure for
the tutor or the writing center.

If a student comes to a university writing center and wants help with a
letter to apply for a job or to complain to the phone company, that seems
very much within the purview of writing center services.  But when
university personnel are involved and may be affected by whatever letter is
produced, you're in a different realm.  I would recommend that when tutors
become alert to such matters, the student should be referred to the
director.  And the director should be knowledgeable about where to take
matters.  They should NOT be handled in the writing center.

Jeanne Simpson
csjhs@eiu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From:	owner-wcenter@ttacs6.ttu.edu [mailto:owner-wcenter@ttacs6.ttu.edu] On
Behalf Of Chauna Craig
Sent:	Friday, October 01, 1999 2:20 PM
To:	wcenter@ttacs6.ttu.edu
Subject:	Re: WC as student advocate?

Mary,

    I agree with Jeanne that the tutor should *not* be keeping a file that
isn't
about writing center work, and my last message may have been sloppy or
misleading
about that point.
    I do still think it's appropriate for a tutor to help a student write a
letter
of complaint if that's what the student wants to use her writing center
appointment
for.  (It's a self-imposed writing assignment where issues of audience,
purpose,
rhetoric, etc. are very important.)  However, I'm curious how others feel
about
that, especially given the potential legal messes, i.e. can the tutor be
held partly
responsible for things like wording or tone if the letter in question ever
becomes a
court document?   Has anyone on the list dealt with these types of issues?
The
writing centers I've worked with have all encouraged students to bring in
any type
of writing they want to work on for class or personal reasons.  Are/should
there be
limits to this?

Chauna Craig
Assistant Professor of English
University of Arkansas-Monticello