Thread by @birdundrstander

#wcmsu's first question for today's panelists: Panelist introductions. I'll introduce each person in a comment on this tweet! @WCMSU

Nikki Caswell is first on deck. Assoc Prof of English & Dir. of WC at @EastCarolina. She started her support services career as a liaison to the math dept! She loved working with students and began focusing on ESL & English instruction -- loves classroom pedagogy and assessment.

Nikki is TT at her university, and is the first full time director of the WC at East Carolina! She's secured space and resources for her program, and has been really active in field service -- including chairing last year's @IWCA_NCTE conference!

@IWCA_NCTE Next up, we've got Neisha-Anne Green! She's joining us from Skype while on the road (thank you, Neisha, for finding a way to connect with us today!).

Neisha-Anne recalls her undergrad years, wherein WC wasn't part of her focus. She was originally an econ major!

@IWCA_NCTE She describes being unsure of what she'd ultimately want to do, but followed her passion: writing. Changed her major (told no one!), and graduated with a degree in writing.

While visiting her former campus, a conversation with a prof prompted her to reflect: what's next?

@IWCA_NCTE The prof encouraged Neisha-Anne to get involved at the #writingcenter. She tried out all roles: tutor, admin, receptionist, grad work, etc. She fell in love w. the field from there, began pursuing WC work.

(For the full scoop, join us on @WCMSU as we live-tweet this event.)

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU Next up, Georgeanne Nordstrom of @uhmanoanews, where she's Director of the WC and Assoc prof of Comp & Rhetoric. She's describing the complex intersections of language and testing and access -- her focus on indigenous rhetorics helps inform her approach to WC and language work.

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews University of Hawaii has a broad variety of languages, identities, ethnicities, etc. White students aren't the dominant group on her campus. U of H has a student body that actually does represent the Hawaiian community. Cool environment to work on rhetorics!

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews We here at @WCMSU are having a little sound difficulty. We may get some spotty reception. Thanks for your patience!

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews Grace Pregent asks Q2: How do you see the work of your WC imparting social change on your campus? What goals around social justice, language diversity, does your center have? How have you enacted your values? (Sound off, dear readers, with your own answers to this!) @WCMSU #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews Nikki recalls a time when several students came to the WC with poor grades over use of singular "they" (relevant anecdote here on #nationalcomingoutday) - the event inspired Nikki and her staff to draft a language statement and become vocal about their support of student writing.

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews Nikki notes that faculty often push back on WC interventions into language diversity -- touching on a common challenge faced by those in the field who are advocating for domestic englishes, indigenous englishes, etc. @WCMSU #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews Nikki's WC is about to release their statement on domestic violence, which she muses may receive pushback too. @WCMSU

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews Now to Neisha-Anne.

When asked what evidence she sees of her university or WC enacting its social justice values, she replies:

"Well, there's me. I make it my personal goal to show up to work as my true, authentic self."

Yes! #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews NA believes being visible -- being willing to take time, to educate, to speak out -- is how we change the field. NA now advises vice provost on her campus. She feels it's her job to "say the things that go unsaid or to point out the uncomfortable moment. Only then can we change."

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews NA describes a hate crime that occurred on her campus the same night the campus opened its anti-racism center. @AmericanU responded by updating its curruculum to better prepare students for healthy engagement -- how can we think of writing as a way to problem-solve? to engage?

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU Every year, the WC at @AmericanU hosts an anti-racism event because NA believes -- rightly so! -- that writing is a place of self-thinking, of advocacy, of engagement. If we aren't practicing how we communicate our values to others, what are we doing?

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU During her tenure at the WC, NA has updated the job description for incoming tutors and has publicized in her WC spaces affirmations of @ncte's statements on language diversity. She tells students, "This is a space of language celebration." @WCMSU #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU @ncte Georgeanne begins by saying she sees social justice on her campus as being a multi-tiered process. She says that because she presents as non-local, she often faces pushback from students who see her as "other." "When I talk about inclusivity... language is the big thing." @WCMSU

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU @ncte "When we're talking about social justice, the idea is not just that everyone is welcome in the center, but that we *want* them there." -- Georgeanne Nordstrom

@WCMSU #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU @ncte "Getting folks to believe we want them there is one of our biggest missions..." -- Georgeanne evokes Anzaldua and ties language and identity together implicitly. If we do not welcome a student's language, we are effectively isolating and un-welcoming the student. #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU @ncte Georgeanne cites transparency as a form of social justice, too. How do we administrate? How do we make decisions? How do we plan programs? Also, stop italicizing "foreign" languages -- language is language. Welcome it. Support & affirm it. It's not an oddity, in any form. #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU @ncte Question 3: Share anecdote re: facing a challenge related to social justice work & how you overcame the challenge? Nikki is up first. @WCMSU #wcmsu

@IWCA_NCTE @WCMSU @uhmanoanews @AmericanU @ncte Nikki: "We're still navigating it."

She cites revamping WC Online scheduling form to be more inclusive of various gender and sexual identities, including leaving "heterosexual" off the list as a teachable moment: "What does it feel like, for majority students, to find themselves unrepresented?" Students complained.

Nikki adds that, contextually, this was all around the same time as the North Carolina bathroom bills. It was a time of high anxiety and real fear for LGBTQ students and community members. After a meeting w the Provost, Nikki & the WC made headway to get lawyers off their backs.

@WCMSU #wcmsu Nikki notes that her WC did, ultimately, reinstitute options like straight and heterosexual on the WC Online form.

@WCMSU Her advice: "Always be listening. Always be flexible. Just because you have a plan at one point in time about what you'd want to do doesn't mean it will always be the plan." Her anecdotes about really *hearing* her staff's needs are profound. @WCMSU

@WCMSU Wisely, Nikki notes that issuing statements about the work is much easier than living the work and doing the work. Ain't that the truth.

@WCMSU Next up, Neisha-Anne. She opens with the truth in a nutshell: "This shit is hard." @WCMSU

@WCMSU She evokes Cornell West: "When you are an activist, you have to be prepared to die." Don't be scared for your life, but, know that lives are at stake in this work. @WCMSU

@WCMSU Neisha-Anne notes that culturally, our approaches to activism aren't working anymore. What made our biggest leaders so special? How can we recapture that? Neisha-Anne says we've moved from a "we" consciousness to an "i" consciousness.

@WCMSU She notes issues of representation aren't easily fixed. Smaller applicant pools of underrepresented folks, etc. How can we self-correct as we try to figure out what works and what doesn't when approaching questions of representation? Hiring? Programming? @WCMSU

@WCMSU Neisha-Anne: "Sign on to be my accomplice. I don't rock with allies. I rock with accomplices."

@WCMSU Georgeanne now on deck: "Challenges come on so many levels." She describes a protest going on in Hawaii where Hawaiians are fighting for their land. Tutors are spending weeks at a time at the protests. How do we support students without issuing political stances? @WCMSU

@WCMSU Georgeanne says: "Well, if English and Hawaiian are both acceptable languages within the academy -- but if you write a dissertation in Hawaiian and nobody can read it -- what do we do? Where does that leave us? When not everyone will model/agree?" @WCMSU

@WCMSU Georgeanne notes that in Hawaii language is particular important given the relationship indigenous folks in Hawaii have to their languages.

@WCMSU Georgeanne notes that though their student body is majority non-white, their FACULTY are majority white.

The struggle for representation is complicated by these power dynamics and these rhetorical shifts and perspectives.

@WCMSU Final question for panelists: What advice would you give to others? @WCMSU #wcmsu

@WCMSU Nikkie: "Be ok with the fact that people aren't always gonna like you. If you're gonna do this work . . . people will actively try to undercut you. They may not return. That's okay." There will always be writers/readers who enforce problematic language ideas.

@WCMSU Neisha-Anne: "If you really believe this is the work for you, build a village around yourself." @WCMSU

@WCMSU Consider the effects that the work of social justice will have on your body, your heart, your friends. "Be okay saying that you're NOT okay, and don't be afraid to take a step back in order to be prepared do to this work, and do it well." @WCMSU

@WCMSU "I'm realizing that my writing center isn't for everyone. On all levels. And that's gonna have to be okay." @WCMSU

YES to challenging the belief that a resource needs to also suit the comfort levels of oppressors.

@WCMSU Neisha-Anne says:

Make your decisions from a place of values, of morals. When people don't agree or don't like it, you can then know in yourself that you did what you truly felt was right. Trust that sense.

@WCMSU Georgeanne's advice: "We have to attend to the place we're in."

This work won't look the same on every campus or in every location. Where are you? Who's there with you? How does that change the path forward? How does it change how we listen? @WCMSU

@WCMSU She also cautions: Be solution oriented. Don't let things fester. Address stuff as it comes up. Keep it pedagogically grounded. Be solid in yourself. Your theories should support your best practices. Insulate your staff to protect them from oppressive pushback. #wcmsu

@WCMSU Love the belief that your tutors ALSO do not need to lay their comfort on the line in ways that are harmful / ask them to be hurt. It's okay for tutors, too, to step back from situations or practices that are too painful. Protect & mentor the students & writers within your care.

@WCMSU Speakers are now asked: Can you share a joy/success?

@WCMSU Neisha-Anne says one of her wins is that she makes a point for students going through the writing studies programs get stipends for their work.

Economic empowerment is absolutely a form of social justice.

@WCMSU Georgeanne says it brings her joy and is a win when she comes into her center and hears multiple students speaking multiple languages -- whether Japanese, Spanish, English, etc. Translanguaging is awesome!

@WCMSU Nikki says her win is the application process, when applicants note that they want to work in the WC because they feel valued and wanted within that space -- that those students buy into the WC's mission and want to amplify it. Powerful stuff.