Dear Colleagues,
Please join us for the spring meeting at West Chester U. We are going to be discussing writing and labor issues. Please see the CFP below:
Philadelphia Writing Program Administrators and Labor Issues
PWPA April 15, 2016
West Chester University of PA
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS
In writing programs across North America, individuals and groups of faculty, sometimes crossing ranks/status, are successfully working for equitable policies/conditions for part-time and limited term faculty. Throughout the PWPA-membership region, we are confident that many of us have made progress on these fronts; we are also confident that many of us still face difficult institutional and cultural barriers to reaching the goal of labor justice in our programs. This *strategy session* will identify and describe some of those efforts, towards two ends: (1) extracting principles and ideas for people to take up in their own settings; and (2) problematizing extant efforts in order to better understand the most pressing needs for continued work.
Therefore, we invite your participation in the session in either or both of these ways–
- Join a panel of participants who have made positive strides regarding labor conditions on your campus, or in your program, or elsewhere (disciplinary/professional associations; unions; grassroots organizations). We wouldn’t expect you to present at length on your accomplishments, but to be willing to lend your expertise to colleagues who can use it.
- Submit questions/scenarios from your local situation in advance so panelists can think about how to help.
Our overall goal for the session is to help participants:
- Recognize the resources/privileges available to you;
- Identify and access people who can make decisions regarding working conditions at our institutions;
- Explore what actions are already underway on our campuses and in the region to improve conditions for contingent faculty;
- Learn about actions by the New Faculty Majority (NFM), Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor (COCAL), and within disciplinary organizations, that could help us to prioritize or focus our work for the immediate future;
- Understand alternative possibilities for solidarity when unions are legally restricted;
- Draft/sketch initial plans for enacting contingent labor justice in your specific location/institution.
In order to volunteer for the panel or submit questions, contact Seth Kahn <skahn@wcupa.edu> by Friday, April 1. We’ll look forward to hearing from you soon and seeing you all in April!