Monday, June 2, 2008

Corporate

To follow up on some points made in class on whether or not writing centers can escape the corporate metaphor. It seems quite difficult to do so when writing centers are a part of universities, and universities are businesses. And what drives businesses is money. Businesses need to make money, and, as Simpson points out, "all decisions are budget decisions...budgets drive all power, all decision making, and all priorities". I have a hard time with absolutes (all power? all decision making? and all priorities? seems so impersonal) I have tried to think of instances where this would not be true in the writing center, but I'm not sure that I can, given my limited expereince and the fact that I have not yet gained the administrative perspective that Speck calls for. But, I still wonder: do decisions made have to be tied to the budget always in order to prove a certain value to the administration?

1 comment:

Karen Neubauer said...

My impression from all the readings and my own experience is not that budgets drive the decisions but that any decision as a budgetary ramification that should be considered. Many times I've come up with "brilliant" ideas and then had to figure out how to pay for them. On the other hand, when some of those budgetary ramifications happen because of decisions made up the line, they can be the impetus for decisions I have to make.