by Phyllis Benay

For the past decade, it seems that whenever two or more writing center directors are gathered together, there is talk of how undervalued, unrecognized, and unappreciated their work is. And it's true that many centers are tucked away in basements, used infrequently by students and rarely, if ever, supported by faculty.

It's no wonder then that as the Writing Center at KSC took shape and I entered into this professional conversation, that many of my colleagues at a variety of institutions were amazed at some of our recent developments. They were particularly impressed by the long-standing Task Force on Writing made up of faculty members. Are they paid? Who told them to do it? How did it start? As far as public institutions go, we're developing a bit of a reputation in the northeast-so much so that the Northeast Writing Center Association, represented by schools throughout New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, asked that KSC host their annual conference in March.

In other words, we're in pretty good shape. The Writing Center has a respectable location, trains some of the best and brightest students as tutors, has a modest but workable budget, sees between 1300-1400 students a year, and has the support of the administration and many of the faculty. But last spring, during an e-mail conversation with Michael Haines, I made some comment that he responded to by asking, "What should we be doing to help you?" I said I'd think about it and I have been, but I have yet to come up with anything tangible.

Perhaps the reason for my delayed response is because everything I'd like to see happen has more to do with perceptions and attitudes than with programs and dollars. I'd like to see more faculty actively participating in conversations about Writing Center work. I'd like everyone to know how to use us as effective collaborators in the enterprise of writing and not just as editors of grammar and spelling. For example, comments such as "I'm waiving the Writing Center requirement for several of my best writers," belies the belief that Writing Centers are only remediation for the needy. So . . . good writers don't need feedback? Don't require input? Don't benefit from conversation? What professional writer-academic or otherwise-does not share drafts? What does that belief reveal about our views of how, why, and under what conditions we write?

Perhaps underlying faculty's reluctance to understand the very nature of writing center work is the belief that writing only takes place behind closed doors as the lone writer labors to bring words to paper. A few weeks ago, I was involved in a conversation about the writing process as social construction when a faculty member said, "You mean you think writing is similar to going to a party?" No-how could I possibly mean that, but all too often the concept of writing as a joint agreement to make meaning between author and audience eludes many of us who were schooled in the notion that writing is a solitary activity.

The Writing Center at KSC needs to go to the next level. It needs to be smack dab in the center of a campuswide belief and commitment to the power of the process of writing. I'm not sure how to make that shift except to keep doing what I've been doing-encouraging faculty to understand what we do and don't do in the Center, training good students how to impart their own care and passion about writing to others, and continuing to believe the work is worth doing.

This first edition of the Writing Task Force Newsletter is yet another step in that direction and can serve as a forum for our debates, questions, and beliefs about writing. Please feel free to respond to anything in these pages and to raise issues that invite discourse by e-mailing pbenay@keene.edu. We will be publishing two newsletters a semester in the hope that they help you with the campus-wide responsibility of teaching our students to write.