With “Increased Dignity and Importance": Re-Historicizing Charles Roberts and the Illinois Decision of 1955

Kelly Ritter

doi:10.58680/ccc201829490

With “Increased Dignity and Importance": Re-Historicizing Charles Roberts and the Illinois Decision of 1955

Kelly Ritter

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

I revisit the so-called Illinois Decision of 1955, which eliminated basic writing from the University of Illinois Rhetoric Program and caused a chain of similar programmatic actions on other campuses nationwide. I contend that reviewing and archiving the Illinois Decision as a locally specific act with multiple actors besides WPA Charles Roberts historicizes a familiar narrative present today—namely, how WPAs address anxieties about writing in high school versus college, and how composition students and programs are beholden to ongoing institutional and extra-institutional imperatives regarding literacy and efficiency.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	458-493
Number of pages	36
Journal	College Composition and Communication
Volume	69
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.58680/ccc201829490
State	Published - Feb 2018

Keywords

pedagogy
writing program administration
first-year writing
basic writing
archival research
labor histories

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Education
Language and Linguistics
Literature and Literary Theory

Online availability

10.58680/ccc201829490

Library availability

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title = "With “Increased Dignity and Importance{"}: Re-Historicizing Charles Roberts and the Illinois Decision of 1955",

abstract = "I revisit the so-called Illinois Decision of 1955, which eliminated basic writing from the University of Illinois Rhetoric Program and caused a chain of similar programmatic actions on other campuses nationwide. I contend that reviewing and archiving the Illinois Decision as a locally specific act with multiple actors besides WPA Charles Roberts historicizes a familiar narrative present today—namely, how WPAs address anxieties about writing in high school versus college, and how composition students and programs are beholden to ongoing institutional and extra-institutional imperatives regarding literacy and efficiency.",

keywords = "pedagogy, writing program administration, first-year writing, basic writing, archival research, labor histories",

author = "Kelly Ritter",

note = "I extend my thanks to Jonathan Alexander and the two anonymous reviewers at CCC who gave me valuable insight and advice toward revision of this article. I also thank the archivists both at the University of Illinois{\textquoteright}s Archives Research Center and at the University of Iowa for their patient help. I especially appreciate the help of archival librarian Denise Anderson at Iowa, who let me work with the newly archived John C. Gerber papers for the better part of three days in summer 2015. Thanks also go to Kirsten Dean, whose help in cleaning out and reorganizing the Rhetoric Closet allowed me to write this article in the first place. And, finally, thanks go to Melissa Ianetta and Peter Mortensen for reading drafts (or parts thereof), and Jack Selzer for being interested in Charles Roberts and believing that Roberts{\textquoteright}s story should continue in the pages of the journal Roberts once edited.",

year = "2018",

month = feb,

doi = "10.58680/ccc201829490",

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AU - Ritter, Kelly

N1 - I extend my thanks to Jonathan Alexander and the two anonymous reviewers at CCC who gave me valuable insight and advice toward revision of this article. I also thank the archivists both at the University of Illinois’s Archives Research Center and at the University of Iowa for their patient help. I especially appreciate the help of archival librarian Denise Anderson at Iowa, who let me work with the newly archived John C. Gerber papers for the better part of three days in summer 2015. Thanks also go to Kirsten Dean, whose help in cleaning out and reorganizing the Rhetoric Closet allowed me to write this article in the first place. And, finally, thanks go to Melissa Ianetta and Peter Mortensen for reading drafts (or parts thereof), and Jack Selzer for being interested in Charles Roberts and believing that Roberts’s story should continue in the pages of the journal Roberts once edited.

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N2 - I revisit the so-called Illinois Decision of 1955, which eliminated basic writing from the University of Illinois Rhetoric Program and caused a chain of similar programmatic actions on other campuses nationwide. I contend that reviewing and archiving the Illinois Decision as a locally specific act with multiple actors besides WPA Charles Roberts historicizes a familiar narrative present today—namely, how WPAs address anxieties about writing in high school versus college, and how composition students and programs are beholden to ongoing institutional and extra-institutional imperatives regarding literacy and efficiency.

AB - I revisit the so-called Illinois Decision of 1955, which eliminated basic writing from the University of Illinois Rhetoric Program and caused a chain of similar programmatic actions on other campuses nationwide. I contend that reviewing and archiving the Illinois Decision as a locally specific act with multiple actors besides WPA Charles Roberts historicizes a familiar narrative present today—namely, how WPAs address anxieties about writing in high school versus college, and how composition students and programs are beholden to ongoing institutional and extra-institutional imperatives regarding literacy and efficiency.

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KW - writing program administration

KW - first-year writing

KW - basic writing

KW - archival research

KW - labor histories

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ER -

With “Increased Dignity and Importance": Re-Historicizing Charles Roberts and the Illinois Decision of 1955

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