Interview with Drew Westberg: How has the Writing Center Changed Since 2004?

How The Writing Center has Changed Since 2004

As a Coe Writing Center (CWC) consultant, I've had the privilege of witnessing the changes implemented within the past year. Whether we are adding new consultants to existing processes, or innovating what we are doing year to year, it has been a pleasure to see the changes we can make in such a short amount of time.

This post takes upon an even greater scope of 20 years, because Professor Drew Westberg has been kind enough to offer his own insight about his experience working in the writing center as an undergraduate student.

Professor Drew Westberg 

Drew Westberg as a Writing Center Consultant (2004)

Contextualizing the Writing Center Atmosphere in 2004:

The Coe College Writing Center (CWC) used to be in the tunnel between Stuart and Petersen, had about 60-80 consultants who chose their schedules, and was open 24 hours a day. Many different majors gathered at any time of day to both help students and hangout in the space. Consultants fostered an environment which they were proud of, and were incentivized to be in a place in which they already loved. Coe's honors program and the writing center also overlapped in the sense that anyone in the program could work for the CWC. Bob Mars was the director at the time, meaning, he would do any of the behind the scenes work neccessary to ensure the successes of both students and consultants alike. 

Coe's Writing Center in the early 2000's

Drew's Overall Experience:

Drew mentioned the Coe Writing Center (CWC) feeling like home for all 4 years of his time as a consultant (2001-2004). The coworkers he met through the Coe Writing Center were especially important to him, and they were people that shaped him and his path through meaningful conversations. He was grateful for the feeling of a sense of purpose and belonging, comparing the CWC to greek life with its own niche. The CWC has always been a place where anyone can hangout and feel like a welcome addition to the space around them in an academic setting. It was important to note the differences in perspectives shared in the CWC, often leading to productive conversation about why consulatants were beccoming the people that they were. Drew had mentioned annecdotes of his appreciation for different philosophies or religions and how everyone was able to come together into a common space.

When asked about the changes he would make to the CWC as it stands today, he answered that he felt as though the writing center should have stayed where it was, because of its former ability to stay open for 24 hours. The library closes at midnight which means that students don't have as much freedom when looking for feedback or a place to hangout during the late night hours. His fond memories of  productive 3 AM shifts are no longer attainable. 

Regardless of his qualms with changes over the years, he does still advocate for his FYS students to have meetings with writing center consultants. He moreso seemed concerned with the CWC's availability as a resource than the quality provided by consultants today.

Have We Changed Priorities?

One of the clear goals of Bob Mars was to promote revision conferences. These are conferences to aid writers in refining the main ideas of their papers as opposed to strictly grammar or word choice. "Big rocks come first" is a concept still taught today, meaning to allow writers to express themselves in their own voice. Ideas or structures of a sentence are only corrected if the reader would have a hard time interpreting the author's intended point. While Drew was explaining editing conferences, it was clear to me that our values as consultants had not changed.

However, the way in which we structure these conferences may have altered over time. Drew's stories had noted how sometimes consultants didn't look at the prompt or the paper itself, and students would come in to discuss their paper without any reference to the draft they already had written. In today's writing center, this is completely unheard of as all consultants are taught to ask for the professor's prompt within the first couple moments of meeting a writer. This may be seen as a very miniscule change, but I believe it shows how consultants are creating more similarities amongst themselves based on what consultants learn in classes we take. These classes are in part designed to teach consultants the methodology behind why do certain things during conferences, such as asking for a prompt from writers.

Conclusion

If one thing was clear to me throughout this whole interview process, it has been that consultant ideologies have been passed down from generation to generation. While we may have new terms or lingo in which we use frequently, the ideas of consultants have remained largely the same. The change in director and location of the CWC, alongside twenty trips around the sun are no match for the consistency in morals held by writing center consultants. All consultants want what is best for writers, and to be a part of the community we call home in the writing center.

Thanks again to Drew Westberg for sharing his experience!