087 (Fall 1987): 50-50 To the Editor Search

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IN JUNE 1986, about two hundred participants at the Wyoming Conference on English passed a resolution calling on the major professional organizations in English, especially the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC), to take steps to correct the increasing exploitation of English faculty members, particularly writing teachers. After four days of discussion and debate (chronicled in the March 1987 issue of College English in an article by Linda Robertson, Sharon Crowley, and Frank Lentricchia), the following motion was passed at the conference's closing session and forwarded to the Resolutions Committee of CCCC:

WHEREAS, the salaries and working conditions of postsecondary teachers with primary responsibility for the teaching of writing are fundamentally unfair as judged by any reasonable professional standards (e.g., unfair in excessive teaching loads, unreasonably large class sizes, salary inequities, lack of benefits and professional status, and barriers to professional advancement);

AND WHEREAS, as a consequence of these unreasonable working conditions, highly dedicated teachers are often frustrated in their desire to provide students the time and attention which students both deserve and need;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Executive Committee of College Composition and Communication be charged with the following:

1. To formulate, after appropriate consultations with postsecondary teachers of writing, professional standards and expectations for salary levels and working conditions of postsecondary teachers of writing.
2. To establish a procedure for hearing grievances brought by postsecondary teachers of writing—either singly or collectively—against apparent institutional noncompliance with these standards and expectations.
3. To establish a procedure for acting upon a finding of noncompliance; specifically, to issue a letter of censure to an individual institution's administration, board of regents or trustees, state legislators (where pertinent), and to publicize the finding to the public at large, the educational community in general, and to our membership.

At its annual convention in Atlanta (18­21 March 1987), the CCCC considered the Wyoming Resolution, and at the 21 March business meeting it was unanimously approved by some 250 participants. In addition, the CCCC Executive Committee authorized its chairperson, Miriam Chaplin of Rutgers University, to establish and fund two committees, one to develop ways of implementing the first charge of the Wyoming Resolution and a second to recommend ways of implementing the second and third charges. These committees will meet throughout the coming year, submitting their reports to the Executive Committee in March 1988.

During its spring meeting at MLA headquarters 23­24 March 1987, the ADE Executive Committee discussed the CCCC actions and unanimously approved the following resolution:

Recognizing that the Wyoming Resolution addresses serious professional inequities that undermine teaching and learning; and, pleased that the annual CCCC Business Meeting unanimously adopted this resolution;

the ADE Executive Committee supports the decision of the CCCC Executive Committee to establish task forces that will (1) formulate professional standards and expectations for salary levels and working conditions and (2) devise ways for receiving and responding to grievances.

ADE will cooperate in any way it can in this endeavor and looks forward to supporting all reasonable standards and procedures designed to prevent the exploitation of our professional colleagues and to foster teaching and scholarship within the profession.

ADE has been concerned with these problems, especially the position of part-time English instructors and departmental policies toward composition teachers and scholars, for many years now. It hopes the information about employment practices and salary schedules made available through the recent ADE surveys of English departments will assist the work of the CCCC task forces. The ADE Executive Committee urges all its members to add their support to these crucial initiatives on behalf of our colleagues.

The author is Chair of the English Department at Georgetown University and a member of the ADE Executive Committee.

© 1987 by the Association of Departments of English. All Rights Reserved.

ADE Bulletin 087 (Fall 1987): 50-50

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