Fight for English. Fight for Martin.

Friends who have been impacted by the English department at Northwestern College (either in the past or the present), please read and consider joining me in a campaign.

As some of you know, the Writing and Rhetoric major is being terminated next year, as well as Dr. Sam Martin's position as a professor here. Many professors have protested these actions and have appealed, but students have never been asked to contribute their voices to the issue.

As the final decision is being discussed over a short period of time, we as writing majors have decided it is time to speak out before it is too late.

If you love English, if your time at Northwestern has been impacted by Dr. Martin, if you value this crucial puzzle piece to the picture we call liberal arts, if you believe that this country should be fighting for the continued study of English, writing, and rhetoric, this message is for you.

Over the next four or five days, Nicole Montgomery and I will be working towards crafting a letter to send to the decision makers of this institution. We believe that there has been a series of hasty decisions without any input from the people this college exists to educate: the students. We are unwilling to accept that a liberal arts college can exist without the study of writing and rhetoric, and we are unsatisfied with the explanations we have been given thus far.

Please, if you want Northwestern College to continue excelling as an institution of quality writing and language, join me in this fight.

Save the Writing and Rhetoric major. Fight for Martin.

Comments

  1. Happy to sign the letter. Will likely be drafting my own letter of support, but I'm glad to participate in any other supportive attempts.

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    1. Fantastic! When the letter is written, I will post it on here and provide my email so that people can send me their names to be added.

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  2. Wow that's awful, but what can we do?

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    1. After the letter is written, I will post it so that people can commit to sending their names to us. Until then, spread the word to others, encourage people to write their own letters to the board of directors, and/or write your own letter supporting the writing major and Dr. Martin.

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  3. What about Dr. JC and the music ministry major being cut? Can we fight for that as well? And will any of it make a difference? As far as I know, the Board has already ruled on this.

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    1. If no one has appealed that decision, it has probably been finalized. Research that, though. The move to try and get Martin tenure/the appeal to keep the Writing and Rhetoric major is the reason this is getting any footing.

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  4. Perhaps we could not just fight for Martin but also for other beloved professors who are being cut without us as students being asked? Just a thought.

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    1. By all means, yes. We're just trying to focus our fight on Martin/the Writing and Rhetoric program because the original decision was appealed by professors.

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  5. What other departments/professors are getting cut? I knew about Dr. J-C and Music Ministry, but this is the first I've heard about Writing and Rhetoric. I don't get it. It seems like there's a lot of Writing and Rhetoric majors, and Music Ministry is something that draws people to Northwestern.

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    1. This is Leah Rekow by the way.

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    2. Journalism is getting cut as well.
      I would agree with you about both of those points. Unfortunately, those majors don't draw as many people as, say, Biology. The explanation they gave us was that NW values the arts, but can't afford to do them. Which, to me, sounds hypocritical, and that is why we are fighting against the decisions.

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