This symposium brings together a range of scholars to consider what economic forces have driven the development of independent writing programs, and how such programs are susceptible to economic conditions and pressures, perhaps even more so than neighboring disciplines in the humanities. It includes: (1) "Documents of Dissent: Hairston's…

Since the adoption and subsequent fade of the Wyoming Resolution, we have seen the political economy of writing instruction change remarkably. Certainly, composition studies' disciplinary viability seems more solid, but the proportion of contingent writing teachers has increased to almost 70 percent. The authors of this article attribute these…

This essay revisits and expands on Gary A. Olson and Joseph M. Moxley's 1989 article "Directing Freshman Composition: The Limits of Authority" by looking at revised notions of writing program administrators' work and authority in 2012. Whereas the original essay surveyed only department chairs, our study includes data from both…

This essay argues that a trend in histories of literary and writing studies is to bifurcate the origins of the fields and so engage in those modernist narrative fallacies described by Jean-Francois Lyotard. Such works limit our understanding of past practices and the longstanding connections between disciplinarity and labor. (Contains 2 notes.)

Describes a successful series of informal English Department seminars at Colorado State University on the teaching of composition. (DD)

The author discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the departments of English and Speech uniting to teach the introductory rhetoric course at the University of Massachusetts. (MM)

This article traces a decline in CCCC sessions on language along with a shift toward more reductive definitions. It analyzes early CCCC treatment of language issues, the Students' Right document, changes in demographics and linguistics, and shifts within English departments that have left us overdue for professional reexamination of our role as…

Summarizes the current state of the English curriculum and calls for a renewed emphasis on rhetoric and student writing for its own sake. (HTH)

Concludes that a combination of a writing sample and an objective test should be used to place students in freshman composition courses. (DD)

Speculates on the current and future state of composition scholarship and instruction. Predicts that writing will return to the center of liberal education. (HTH)

Common approaches to composition teaching are satirized. (JH)

Discusses the attitudes of the general public, the educational establishment, and departments of English toward research in composition. (DD)

Reflects over the changing status of college writing instructors and their relationship with those that teach literature in the English department. (HOD)