The College will be reoffering two courses next semester specifically designed to give intensive writing instruction to students. Students and faculty felt that English 01-01: Writing about Literature and Philosophy 01: Doing the Right Thing, which were both offered last year, had helped students improve their writing skills significantly. These writing-intensive courses were created in order to help underprepared students write at a college level. The majority of faculty members have agreed that students should have the opportunity to take full advantage of the curriculum while concurrently challenging their writing skills.

The English and philosophy courses will offer intensive writing instruction, with essays due every week that will be returned with detailed comments. To ensure that courses will provide sufficient individual attention, the sections are limited to 12 students each. Dean of Students Ben Lieber is convinced that this format is the best way to provide writing instruction. "It means a lot of individual attention to students, and I think that the experience of all of [the faculty] is that's the best way to improve a student's writing," he said.

The courses are the product of a long period of discussion and planning by faculty and a broader effort to provide instruction to Amherst students who are having difficulty with writing. After last year, the courses were considered a success, and the program has been refined for next semester. "We did some surveys and what the surveys showed was that both the students' and the faculty's perception of the degree of improvement seemed to match each other, which we took as a good sign," said Lieber.

Administrators hope that these courses will solve a problem that has long been ignored. "The college has faced this problem for decades," said Professor of Philosophy Jyl Gentzler, who will be teaching Doing the Right Thing. "I'm pleased that we're now attempting to address it. The College assumes an obligation to provide students whom it has admitted the opportunity to acquire the academic skills that are presupposed by the curriculum," she said.

President Anthony Marx agreed that the College has an obligation to help students. "We see it as part of our responsibility to students to teach them to write and to think critically," he said. "And we're addressing that for writing, which has been raised as an issue across the curriculum as well as for students who have a great need."

Lily Shapiro '08, a transfer student from the University of Michigan, which has requisite first-year writing courses said such a need clearly exists. "Writing is a crucial skill to have. If evidence shows that students are continuing on to upper-level classes unprepared, then perhaps mandatory first-year writing classes should be made," she said.

Under-prepared student writers are not the only ones who are disappointed with the opportunities for instruction at the College. President Marx elaborated on students' concerns. "I think there is a growing sense that students on the campus have challenges in being able to write as well as they'd like to and as well as the College would like for them to be able to," he said.

Gentzler supported Marx's point, reporting statistics from a recent survey that the Working Group on Writing Instruction had conducted in the spring of 2004. "51 percent [of students] reported that writing instruction at the College ranged from non-existent to merely competent," said Gentzler.

Marx mentioned possible actions that the College could take in the future. "We have talked about ways in which a department might request an additional faculty member, and include in that request that they teach a writing-intensive course," he said. "Who will actually teach that course depends on who has the interest, the ability and the time, but that's only one of the possible solutions."

Some faculty members are skeptical about having professional writing instructors teach. There is great appreciation for the professional help in the Writing Center among both faculty and students, but Lieber has observed certain limitations concerning the Writing Center's services. "The Writing Center does a terrific job," he said, "but it's not a substitute for actual specific course work, and I'm glad we're starting to point in that direction."

Still, the Writing Center remains a vital resource. Associate Dean of Students and director of the Writing Center Susan Snively explained that she is seeing more students than ever. "We are already up to 900 appointments so far this semester and around 400 individuals have sought our help," she said. "Our survey of student responses shows that we are doing very well, although we always want to do even better."