How Stanford Students and Alumni Can Change the Creative Writing Terminations
Our new Stanford President has encouraged “a stronger culture of inquiry,” and in that spirit, we will continue to inquire into the disaster brewing in Stanford’s Creative Writing Program.
In a mid-August Zoom meeting, all 23 current Jones Lecturers were told that they would be ‘cycled out’ of the Stanford Creative Writing Program. When asked for clarification about what that meant, the Humanities Deans and Creative Writing Director confirmed that the Jones Lecturers’ positions would be terminated over the next two years.
Creative Writing is the most popular Minor (most popular by far) on Stanford’s STEM-heavy campus.
The whole situation is not only tragic and bizarre, it’s also highly suspicious:
The ‘future firings’ arrive exactly a year after current Jones Lecturers asked for raises.
The current lecturers will be replaced with younger, lower-paid, and less-experienced teachers.
Only four (4) professors voted for these firings. The English Department is composed of 35 professors total, and the vast majority weren’t informed that these terminations of their junior colleagues were up for discussion.
The Jones Lecturers teach 90% of Stanford Creative Writing courses and 50% of English courses. They are the advisors for almost half of English majors, and 68% of English majors choose a creative writing focus.
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Stanford’s “Red Wedding” decision has been covered widely in media, including by Inside Higher Ed, KQED, the San Francisco Chronicle, and LitHub. There are more articles forthcoming.
Over 2000 students and alumni have already signed the online petition.
There are many other that Stanford students and alumni can take to help reverse this decision:
1 — Write to the Creative Writing Faculty. Some of them voted for these terminations, others didn’t. They all still have a say whether this decision stands. The deans have indicated in multiple emails that this is a ‘faculty governance’ issue. We encourage students to write to the CW faculty, share your experiences regarding the Jones Lecturers, and ask that this decision be reversed (respectfully and reasonably). Their emails are:
pphillips@stanford.edu, adamjohn@stanford.edu, crlee@stanford.edu, tallent@stanford.edu, avjordan@stanford.edu, agirmay@stanford.edu, mantopol@stanford.edu, njenkins@stanford.edu
For those who have already emailed the deans, please send those letters to the CW faculty too. And for everyone — please consider sharing your letter at the “Dear Stanford” substack.
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2 — Write to any of your English professors. They were left out of this decision, even though the termination of the Jones Lecturers (who teach English classes) will be a calamity for the English major. Ask the English professors to speak up in faculty meetings about not only this decision itself, but why only 4 of 35 professors were able to make this unprecedented change in the department. List of Stanford English Professors here.
3 — Of course, let any fellow student or alumni know about the disastrous decision to terminate the Jones Lecturers. You can simply forward this webpage. Let your parents know too. Ask them to write an email to the CW faculty or to the English Department. Parents have considerable leverage in these situations, and they of course care about your education and your Stanford experience.
Thank you for your support of the Jones Lecturers, and for supporting your own experience in Stanford Creative Writing.
Links:
Media Stories about Stanford’s “Red Wedding”
“Dear Stanford” Substack — letters from Alumni about Stanford Creative Writing
