OSU writing center

Jeeze. I just googled "Ohio State Writing Center", and I'm already forming opions on the things that I've seen. I realize I have some bias on the subject of writing centers, so I'll try to keep an open mind while reading their description....

Lets be real though: this blog is bound to turn into a post about why I think Witt's center is better.

From first glace, their general definition of the center is similar to ours. They talk about helping with any writing assignment at any stage of the process and so on. But if you continue reading, big bold letters present the title, "WRITING CENTER POLICIES." Cool. Basically they have a ton of rules associated with their center. Wittenberg doesn't have rules, and we function just fine. Chill out, OSU.

I really didn't want this blog to be a giant copy-and-paste scenario, but check out these policies:

You may schedule ONE appointment at our Mendenhall location each week. You may have one walk-in tutorial daily (up to four per week) at our satellite center. People with documented learning disabilities may have two appointments per week.

Clients with too many appointments per week will have the overflow appointments canceled.

If you need to cancel an appointment, please call 614-688-4291 or go online to AT LEAST ONE HOUR before your appointment. Canceling an appointment less than an hour before the appointment will count as a no-show. If you call to cancel more than an hour before your appointment, you may, if we have openings, reschedule an appointment for later in the week.

Clients who miss an appointment without calling or visiting the scheduler system AT LEAST ONE HOUR in advance are considered no-shows and may not hold another appointment that week. Clients accumulating two or more no-shows will have appointments canceled and will not be allowed to schedule another appointment for the remainder of the quarter.

I understand OSU is huge, but these rules are rough. Is it really necessary to limit the amount of appointments a student has per week? I think first come, first serve (aka whoever makes the appointment first) is a fine thing.  Also, I think their strict cancellation rules are comical, considering last time I had an appointment in our center, I changed the time of it like three times --one of those times being 15 minutes before the appointment was supposed to happen. Whoops. I understand the need to have cancellation notice so that other students can have the opportunity, but threatening to ban a student from the center does not set up a warm, inviting atmospere for the center.

Another policy that confused me:

Tutors in the writing center will not tutor students for work in the following courses: Education 106, 107, and 108. To get help with those courses, call the ESL program (292-6360).

I don't know what those classes are, but I'm assuming they are entry-level ESL courses. The idea of separating native speakers from non-native speakers baffles me. Discrimination! They say in their description that they will help any student with any assigment, but then they throw in a rule against ESL kids? What the heck. The writing advisors in their center should be able to handle ALL students, whether they are fluent in English or not.

Speaking of the advisors, I can't really tell if they are students or teachers. In the center's scheduled hours, they list that they are closed from  "1:30-2:18 for staff meeting." If the student's were advisors, my guess is that they would not have to close for this meeting.

I'm not necessarily against teachers as advisors, but I bet if they had some students as advisors, they could expand the size of their center to accomodate for the larger student body of OSU.

Very interesting.