The following resolutions were passed at the CCCC Annual Business Meeting held on Saturday, April 9, 2016, in Houston.
Resolution 1
Whereas, in the spirit of activism and public engagement emerging from her scholarship in assessment, basic writing, and writing program administration, Linda Adler-Kassner has reimagined the CCCC Annual Convention as a catalytic converter for public action and a celebration of our diversity, creating a rich forum for composition scholars/teachers not only to share their theories and practices through posters, workshops, and presentations, but also to practice public scholarship and advocacy in venues such as the Taking Action Workshops and the Pitch Practicing, Knowledge Shaping, and Writing for Change stations in the Action Hub, not to mention the whiteboards, suggestion postcards, and Closing Plenary Session that will synthesize all the Taking Action suggestions;
Whereas she has connected with convention presenters and attendees through social media to tell the emerging story of CCCC 2016 and energize presenters and attendees for this signature event, setting the bar even higher for future conference chairs;
Whereas we all spent time with Linda in her office as she delivered key information to us in her informational videos, spoke directly to each of us whenever there was a key deadline, process, or idea that needed to be translated or communicated, and encouraged us to ask questions;
Whereas we can see the tangible evidence of change in every convention space, and we have seen her everywhere; and
Whereas she has done all this work in a spirit of generosity, goodwill, and collaboration;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2016 Conference on College Composition and Communication thank Linda Adler-Kassner for her many contributions to us and to the profession.
Resolution 2
Whereas in the spirit of inclusiveness and in response to Houston’s vote to abolish the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, the Local Arrangements Committee moved to build and foment connections between our organization and members of the Houston LGBTQ community;
Whereas the local committee designed and curated a web guide that facilitated convention attendees’ exploration of Houston’s identity through its businesses, neighborhoods, and other cultural centers; and
Whereas in the spirit of accessibility, the Local Arrangements Committee collaborated with the Committee on Disability Issues in College Composition to ensure that the 2016 CCCC was an accessible convention by providing an accessibility guide, producing a video on how to use the accessibility guide, as well as encouraging presenters to consider how they could make their presentations accessible and advocating that future CCCC conventions be accessible;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the 2016 Conference on College Composition and Communication thank its Local Arrangements Committee co-chair Jen Wingard and committee members Geneva Canino, Casie Cobos, TJ Geiger, Allison Laubach-Wright, and Nathan Shepley and applaud their efforts.
Resolution 3
Whereas the Indianapolis Resolution, a collaboratively drafted resolution reenvisioning the Wyoming Resolution, provides a needed response to unfair labor practices experienced by contingent labor and other writing instructors;
Whereas the majority of postsecondary writing instruction is the responsibility of contingent labor who need and deserve the support of our professional organization; and
Whereas, as of March 2016, the Indianapolis Resolution has received well over 300 endorsements, including current members of the Conference on College Composition and Communication Executive Committee and several other former members and officers;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that:
- We ask that the chair commit to appointing a member to an interorganizational labor board in keeping with Section A of the Indianapolis Resolution.
- We ask CCCC to work with relevant committees, task forces, and the general membership to mentor graduate students and contingent faculty on the realities of our labor conditions.
- We ask CCCC journal editors and convention organizers to encourage labor-oriented research in keeping with Section C of the Indianapolis Resolution.
Resolution 4
Whereas the contingent status of an increasing cadre of writing instructors is seemingly entrenched in our institutions; and
Whereas advocates for contingent writing faculty often need support on an ad hoc basis;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Conference on College Composition and Communication dedicate a liaison for contingency issues (e.g., fair labor standards, unemployment insurance claims, legal issues related to hiring/nonrenewals).
Resolution 5
Whereas contingent faculty often receive low pay for their work and are often precluded from summer teaching;
Whereas contingent faculty may lose teaching assignments at the last minute, thus making it impossible to find replacement work; and
Whereas many universities and unemployment offices invoke “reasonable assurance of continued employment” as grounds to deny unemployment claims between academic terms;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Conference on College Composition and Communication Chairperson issue a statement affirming that faculty on contingent appointments do not have “reasonable assurance of continued employment.”
Resolution 6
Whereas the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects employment data for tenure-track/tenured (TT/T) faculty but much less systematically for non-tenure-track (NTT) faculty; and
Whereas more complete employment data for NTT faculty improve advocacy efforts at the department, college, campus, and national levels;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Conference on College Composition and Communication call for NCES to reinstate the National Survey of Postsecondary Faculty (and to collect the same employment data through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) for parttime and fulltime NTT faculty as it does for TT/T faculty.
Resolution 7
Whereas laws such as the Affordable Care Act and the Public Student Loan Forgiveness Act stipulate minimum number of hours worked per week in order to determine eligibility based on guidelines that institutions sometimes use to report actual hours to the IRS and Department of Labor; and
Whereas CCCC is best positioned to articulate the ratio of in-class/out-of-class hours worked based on research and best practices in writing instruction;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Conference on College Composition and Communication articulate a minimum acceptable ratio of in-class/out-of-class hours worked for the purposes of calculations to determine eligibility for both health insurance and public student loan forgiveness.
