Ranked as the No. 3 university nationally by U.S. News, one would expect Stanford University to protect one of its most popular academic minors: creative writing. However, this expectation appears to be misplaced given their recent decision to lay off 23 of the program’s lecturers after a one to two year period—some of whom have been working at the school for the past 20 years.
Deans Debra Satz and Gabriella Safron—of the School of Humanities and Sciences and the School of Humanities and Art, respectively—claim no responsibility for this decision, stating that it instead came from the senior professors of creative writing. However, according to Tom Kealey, one of the laid off lecturers, in his “Medium” article, “Between the ten [senior professors], they taught 13 undergraduate classes last year (and 19 overall, less than two classes taught per professor). For comparison, ten lecturers [typically] would’ve taught 50 classes.”
This policy shift will transform these creative writing lecturers’ positions into temporary roles for future professors, with current ones being “cycled out” over the next two years. The sudden shift from permanent positions to temporary ones has alarmed many of the staff and students as it threatens the stability of the program as a whole. Losing experienced teachers, who have significantly helped shape the success of the program, is regarded by many as a sign of future decline in the quality of education for students.
These new changes have sparked outrage among students and staff, causing some to send petitions and open letters to protect Stanford’s creative writing department. “Part of the reason I chose Stanford over similar caliber schools is because I felt it struck a nice balance between the STEM subjects and the humanities. Although I plan on majoring in STEM, I wanted to also dedicate my time to creative writing as it’s something I’ve always loved to do,” Ellaheh Gohari, a former Heritage student and Stanford Class of 2028 Science, Technology and Society major, said. “I wanted the opportunity to refine my work. That’s why I’m disheartened to hear that Stanford is going to eliminate many of the classes that made the department special.” With the Stanford board failing to address these complaints so far, students like Gohari fear that the unique opportunities they were once looking for at Stanford may soon be a thing of the past.
On Stanford University’s campus over 1600 Stanford students, alumni and faculty have signed a petition protesting the University’s actions. (Photo/Robert Gareth via Unsplash)
