Stanford Student Testimonials About the Jones Lecturers
The vast majority of these testimonials are from the online petition.
We begin with a brief introduction from Kyle Wang, who began the online petition to save Stanford Creative Writing and the Jones Lecturers:
“When I started this petition several days ago (late August 2024), I did so for one simple reason: working with the Jones Lecturers changed my life.
“From the first poetry class I ever took with them to my final workshop as an undergraduate, the Jones Lecturers were consistently some of my most dedicated, passionate teachers; they inspired me not only to be a sharper, stronger writer, but also to imagine a life for myself in the literary arts — something I’d previously thought impossible.”
Kyle Wang, English, class of 2023
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“The Jones Lecturers have contributed so much to the culture of Stanford’s creative writing program. Writing is inherently vulnerable, and sometimes I wonder why I continue to create. Yet beyond discussing technique or craft, the most important thing the lecturers have taught me is that my words have a place in this world. Without them, the program would become a shadow of its former self, and creation and personal expression at Stanford would falter.”
Lydia, undeclared, class of 2027
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“My best experiences at Stanford are thanks to these lecturers.”
Skya, English, class of 2025
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“They’ve been some of the best teachers in my time at Stanford and are the keystone to my experience in the creative writing program — why would I have bothered to come to this school as a fine arts and humanities major if I didn’t have the chance with such instructors?”
Anna, TAPS, class of 2025
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“Formative to my Stanford education. Would be irresponsible and disastrous to lose the creative and brilliant lecturers who have touched so many lives.”
Nicole, HumBio, class of 2023
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“Jones lecturers were indispensable to me on my Stanford journey; Richie Hofmann advised my Honors in the Arts project, and I attended nearly every reading by a Jones lecturer in poetry. They were the heartbeat of the poetry community I knew at Stanford and the one that remains after graduation. They deserve to be rewarded, not cut off!”
Callum, Comp Lit, class of 2023
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“The creative writing Jones Lecturers are some of the most thoughtful teachers at Stanford. The work they put into teaching their classes is invaluable and provides an outlet for so many of us who love expression and storytelling. As someone who wants to write professionally, I would not be where I am today without their support and advice. Small, lecturer lead workshops are so important to Stanford!”
Kristofer, English, class of 2025
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“The Jones Lectureship is one of the only positions in this country that actively sustains and supports the literary arts, making it one of the most critical positions for preserving, generating, and communicating American literary culture.
While Stanford likes to tout its Stegner fellowship (to which Jones Lecturers are of course attached) as the greatest and most prestigious writing program in the Anglophone literary world, Jones Lecturers are being disgraced and exploited, despite how critical they are to exposing students to literature and communication.
Given how coveted the position is, the termination of Jones Lecturers’ contracts and their fiscal undervaluing is a depressing reminder of how little art is valued in contemporary American society, even by institutions, ie Stanford, that claim to prize and protect it. This is an epidemic. The benefits of creative writing are not just artistic. It is about developing a way to convincingly communicate your observations, emotions, inclinations, reasoning, and actions.
We as a nation are facing a literacy crisis, and yet even the most prestigious institutions in the world are destroying programs that instruct students on how to communicate effectively. Do you really think that saving a couple of bucks is worth it, at the expense of the students who fork over hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for the opportunity to learn from Jones lecturers? It’s a disgrace to the literary community AND Stanford students.
“Let this also be a reminder that creative writing classes are some of the most difficult to enroll in at Stanford BECAUSE so many people want to take one. Most of these classes are taught by Jones Lecturers or former Jones Lecturers. Creative writing classes are some of the most attractive and sought-after classes at the university, and yet they are being gutted.
“As an English major and Peer Advisor for the department for two years, I have had pleasant experiences with many Jones Lecturers, and certainly no negative ones, but Richie Hofmann and Rose Whitmore were some of the most transformative writers and instructors I had during at Stanford. I am not alone in this stance–my peers regularly praised these two as fantastic instructors who cared not only about great writing and great art, but about the development of their students. Their contracts were not renewed in 2023, and it is an embarrassment to Stanford and the literary community that they were treated so poorly.”
Jo, English, class of 2023
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“Amazing! They helped me so much with my career.”
Jessica, Art Practice, class of 2023
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“These (lecturers) changed my life and made me a better writer. The creative writing program at Stanford were the best classes I took in college, and it is all owed to these (lecturers). They inspired me and pushed me in the best ways, and now I have the motivation and knowledge I need to accomplish my dream of becoming an author, and it is only because of their support and instruction that I have become the writer I am today.”
Adriana, HumBio, class of 2024
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“They’re amazing and changed my life! Removing them is a disservice to the student body.”
Ryan, Chemical Engineering, class of 2025
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“Jenn Trahan was the first person who made me, a FLI student, confident in my writing, made me want to pursue a degree in English, and made me believe I could succeed as a writer despite my socioeconomic background. Other amazing lecturers that have greatly helped me during undergrad include Tom Kealey, Scott Hutchins, and Shannon Pufahl.”
Kyla, English, class of 2024
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“The creative writing program — carried in large part by Jones Lecturers — is one of the highlights of Stanford’s academics. We can’t take that culture, which was been so carefully built and maintained by lecturers, for granted.”
Joyce, Mathematical and Computer Science, class of 2025
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“Stanford’s cancellation of the Jones Lecturer position demonstrations a profound ignorance towards the social and emotional — as well as educational — role that the creative writing department plays within the university’s entire undergraduate body. As a recent grad pursing a career in the field of English education, I’ve always seen Stanford’s historic creative writing program as a national standard-bearer, and it is so disappointing to see Stanford turn its back on this tradition and further diminish the already endangered presence of the humanities on campus.”
Grace, English, class of 2024
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“The best part of my Stanford education was not the friends I made, or the breadth and quality of instruction — it was working one-on-one with the Stegner Fellows and Jones Lecturers. They’ve been the single most important catalyst for my personal and academic growth over the past 4 years. I have no idea who I would be without the creative writing program, or what the creative writing program would be without them.”
Diego, Computer Science, class 2022
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As an alumna of the Creative Writing undergraduate program, most of my classes were taught by Jones Lecturers, and they are the only reason I was able to become the writer I am today. Austin Smith was my first ever creative writing teacher. I took his “Creative Expression in Writing” class, and he made me feel like I had a shot as a writer coming from a FLI primary and secondary education with no creative writing background.
Michael Shewmaker was my first poetry teacher, and his class “Reading and Writing Poetry,” which I took during the first quarter of lockdown (Spring 2020), helped me finally understand poetry and lyricism. Conversations with Shew kept me optimistic and made me feel supported and cared for during what truly felt like a hopeless time for so many including myself.
In “Fiction Writing,” Ruchika Tomar introduced me to the beautiful literature and stories that were not only formative to the development of my writing style but also the way in which I view the world.
Ed Porter’s “I Bet You Think You’re Funny: Humor Writing Workshop” helped me learn to cope with the pandemic through humor and made me realize that I can make people laugh and bring joy to those around me. He taught me the difference between punching up and punching down, how to be funny and simultaneously being mindful. In his class, we didn’t just learn to be funny, we also learned how to push back against gendered and racial stereotypes and practices common in comedy. Ed was always encouraging, and I still read the feedback he sent me at the end of my quarter with him when I’m having a bad day.
Shimon Tanaka’s “Contemporary Asian American Stories” class was where I first reckoned with my Asian American identity, stopped being ashamed of who I was, and was introduced to books that became my favorite works and shaped who I am as a person. Under Shimon’s guidance, my class of all Asian American femmes interrogated the issues and nuances of Asian American experiences that DEI initiatives can only scratch the surface of. Shimon himself is one of the kindest people I know, and he taught what I can confidently say was the best class I ever took at Stanford.
Through “Family Stories,” Brittany Perham allowed me to properly process and grieve my grandmother’s death through writing. I grew close to one of my first friends at Stanford, who also signed up for the class without me knowing. Brittany was compassionate and gentle with everyone in the class when we workshopped our pieces and made it so that we felt open and safe enough to process our intergenerational traumas.
Richie Hoffman is no longer a Jones Lecturer, but he taught “Poetry and Poetics” my junior year, and although the class is usually taught by a professor of English, I could not think of a better experience than to be taught poetics by an actual poet. He made the class so much richer than I could even imagine.
Tom Kealey, who co-taught “Secret Lives of the Short Story” with Professor Gavin Jones, also brought a much welcomed perspective on short stories that can only come from a fiction writer himself.
I also took Tom and Scott Hutchinson’s “Novel Writing Intensive” and had one of the most memorable experiences of my undergraduate career as a result. Tom and Scott were incredibly supportive as we were challenged by the massive undertaking that was starting and finishing a novel in a month. They took note of how quiet I was in class and made sure that my thoughts were included in class conversations. They were also incredibly understanding of the unforeseen circumstances that made it difficult for me and my fellow writers to stay on track with finishing the novel but still did their best to help us achieve our goal.
Though I never took a class with Jenn Alandy Trahan due to scheduling conflicts, she was considerate in responding to my email freshman year, asking her questions about the courses she was teaching. She had been a guest speaker in both virtual and in-person classes, a unique and rare opportunity to discuss her award-winning story “They Told Us Not To Say This” with the writer herself, and when I finally mustered up the courage to introduce myself my junior year and tell her, while we were both in an elevator after a reading, how much I appreciated her work, as a person who also grew up in a predominantly Pilipinx Bay Area town, she responded to my first email to her from freshman year that night, asking if it was me and letting me know I could always come to her.
While he was a Stegner Fellow, Hieu Minh Nguyen spoke at an Asian American poet panel at Okada House and made me feel that there is a community of Asian writers that I could aspire to join one day. This is all to say, the Jones Lecturers are critical to shaping me as both a writer and a person. How some of them are able to stay at Stanford for over a decade is only a testament to their adeptness as instructors and mentors as well as their willingness to go above and beyond what they’re paid for (which, throughout my time at Stanford, was not much at all) to make their students feel capable and cared for, especially during these turbulent past five years.
The Creative Writing minor is the most popular at Stanford, and it is evidently because of the labor of the Jones Lecturers. Regardless of any behind-the-scenes politics of giving away lectureships, firing 23 Jones Lecturers at once is extremely disrespectful to those who contributed so much effort to make sure the undergraduate English department is as distinguished as it was.
As a school that claims to support a balanced liberal arts education, the act of gutting 23 writers is evidence to the contrary; it is an insult to the humanities and only goes to show the duplicitous nature of such hollow declarations. At a time when academic free speech is a hot button issue, it is extremely telling where Stanford stands as it renders the people, who have equipped students to use their voices and tell their stories, jobless. Reinstate the Jones Lecturers.
Evelyn, English, class of 2023
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Many more to come!
