Despite rumors, new writing program to continue next year

Freshman writing seminars will continue in full force next year, said writing program director Kerry Walk, despite rumors that have circulated among the freshman and sophomore classes.

Student reactions to the new seminars have been mixed. Though some said they have had an excellent experience, others said the assignments were sometimes long and tedious.

John Kim '04 — who is finishing the writing requirement this year — said he has heard that the seminars were not going to continue from two different sources.

Walk said she does not know where the rumors have started. Full-time lecturers have been hired to teach some of the seminars in the fall, Walk said, and the program is set to continue. In addition, the writing program has hired two new assistant directors, Alfie Guy and Ann Jurecic GS '94.

Guy, who has taught two seminars this year, served for nine years as associate director of the Expository Writing Program at New York University.

Jurecic is an assistant director of Rutgers University's writing program. She had coordinated Princeton's writing center for two years in the past. Both will begin July 1.

At a Council of the Princeton University Community meeting April 8, Walk spoke about the changes in the writing program and the new writing seminars, which she took charge of at the beginning of the year.

Suggestions made in students' evaluations at the end of last semester have already been reviewed and are being taken into consideration for the next year.