EXWR loses Hesford to tenure decision

After Hesford's departure, EPPC recommends a third position

The Expository Writing Program lost one of their professors, Visiting Assistant Professor Wendy Hesford, to Indiana University's English Department after a third tenure track position was not created early spring semester.

The Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC) ranked the program the highest priority in late April for the College Faculty Council's (CFC) consideration this fall.

"I found it heartening that EPPC so clearly recognized the importance of the position," said Associate Professor of Expository Writing and English Jan Cooper.

EPPC ranked seven positions including the Expository Writing Program's request as the highest priority, according to Chair of EPPC and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Carol Lasser. CFC will consider EPPC's recommendations in the fall and then decide whether positions will be allocated to the Expository Writing Program.

Director of the Expository Writing Program and Professor of Expository Writing and English Leonard Podis said about CFC, "We're hoping that all the materials and such that we sent in will have a positive result."

CFC authorized the Expository Writing Program to advertise a one year temporary position to replace Hesford for next year. The position was filled last month by Tony Stocks who previously held a position as Visiting Instructor in the English Department.

Former Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Mary Ella Feinleib said after the Feb. 22 decision, "The CFC really struggled with this and it finally decided that on procedural grounds it was not ready now to approve the third tenure track position in the Expository Writing Program."

Feinleib said, "[CFC] wanted to wait until it could see all the position requests that came in later on this year. It was a very difficult and, in some ways, sad discussion because we were very well aware that the college would lose Wendy Hesford as a result of this."

Hesford, in response to the CFC's decision, said, "I'm disappointed." She wrote the CFC and Feinleib a letter expressing her disappointment. Hesford accepted a position offered to her by Indiana University's English Department. Concern about the future direction of the Expository Writing Program has grown steadily since CFC's Feb. 22 decision.

Professors worry that if CFC once again rejects the Expository Writing Program's request for a third tenure track position next fall, problems will arise within the department. Cooper said, "If we totally lost the third position, it is our opinion that the writing requirement will have to be completely reconsidered by the entire general faculty."

Podis said that the third position has been staffed temporarily since 1984, when the college writing requirement was implemented. Over the years, several people in the position have come and gone, according to Podis.

A faculty mandate in 1983 set up the Expository Writing Program in order to support students who needed guidance in passing the basic writing requirements and improving their writing skills. The legislation states that three positions must be filled if the College is to maintain a writing proficiency requirement.

Without the tenure track position, Podis said that, "The Expository Writing Program could be in trouble. We're looking at some serious threats to our stability and functioning."

Chair of the Expository Writing Committee and Professor of English Robert Pierce said, "We desperately need that third tenure track position to keep the writing program going. As to its becoming a tenure track position as opposed to the ongoing temporary arrangement, it does seem to me crazy. It's been 14 years … and that's a long time to keep a temporary position."

Pierce added, "The need is demonstrated and I think it is very harmful to the continuity of the program to have to bring new people in over and over again."

EPPC reviewed the Expository Writing Program prior to CFC's Feb. 22 decision. The eight faculty and four student members on EPPC confirmed their decision, during a special meeting on Feb. 21, that they would recommend to CFC that there should be three full time positions for the program.

The meeting was held because EPPC wanted to make a recommendation to CFC to offer a third tenure track position to Hesford before she made a decision to leave Oberlin. Traditionally, EPPC sends requests for any additional staff members to CFC during late spring. CFC then reviews the individual departments and staff members in those departments. It also ranks them in order of importance and in their need of tenure and temporary track positions.

After hearing the CFC's decision, Cooper commented, "I am very disappointed. I think it's a great loss but what remains to be seen is what happens to the third faculty position, which is crucial to the support of the writing proficiency requirement."

Rebecca Bryan, a college junior, EPPC member, and Student Senator who has taken expository writing classes since last spring, said, "I think that it's a really big mistake for the college. I think that Council knows very well that they're not going to find someone better than Hesford in a national search. They're hiding behind rules, I think, and if expository writing was a program that got the respect it deserves from the school, then the Council wouldn't have decided to do this."

CFC's Feb. 22 decision did not discourage a group of students from organizing in the hopes of reversing that decision. The group is comprised of approximately 30 students who were upset by the CFC's decision.

The group wrote a letter to the EPPC about the importance of a tenure track position for the Expository Writing Program. The group communicated its concerns to the Board of Trustees when they visited campus this semester.

"We are making sure they know what's going on," Bryan said.

Miriam Axel-Lute, a college junior who has also taken expository writing classes since last spring, said concerning CFC's decision, "I was horribly disappointed." Axel-Lute delivered a petition to Feinleib's office on February 22 with 225 signatures by students in support of speeding up the process to support the third tenure track position.

According to Pierce, two possible outcomes can result if the tenure track position is not approved by CFC. One would be that the Expository Writing Program would have to continue with temporary appointments for the third position. Otherwise, the position would not be secured at all and the program would be reduced to two professors.

Chair and Professor of English Katherine Linehan said, "Oberlin College needs to support writing as a skill important for college, but also for careers. Therefore, the case for a third tenure track position is probably a strong one, though I have not read all the documents or listened to all the discussion about what will be involved."

Associate Professor of English William Patrick Day, who was one of the inside reviewers of the program, said, "My position on this is that it makes sense to have an Expository Writing Program. The reason we have it is because literary studies have been diverging the last 15 to 20 years."

He stressed that the Expository Writing Program is in need of a third tenure track position, "You need people who are specialists. Without the third position, there will be a lot of difficulty in terms of writing instruction."

Podis spoke of the direction the Expository Writing Program: "Our real goal for the last few years has been to stabilize staffing so we could continue to do what we've been doing, which is mainly to provide courses for people who want to excel in their writing or need work in meeting the writing requirement."

Podis added, "We have various goals including continually seeking to involve the rest of the faculty with the program. Concerning long term curricular goals, we haven't been able to see past the problems of stable staffing arrangements. We want to be certain." Pierce stressed the importance of having the Expository Writing Program in the English Department. He said, "I'm a great believer in writing across the curriculum. Within each department, writing should be taught and the program wants to go in that direction."