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Labor Advocacy Playbook: Reference Card
The Writing Program Exchange01Situational Self-Assessment
Know your influence and your limits before acting.
- What is your job security: tenure, contract, or adjunct status?
- Who holds authority over this specific issue?
- Which governance channels exist: senate, bargaining agreement, curriculum committee?
- What has been tried before, and what happened?
02Identify and Connect
Map who is affected. Build a coalition before going formal.
- Who else faces this problem directly?
- Which informal and formal spaces exist for coalition-building?
- Who are your administrative allies?
- Which external pressure points exist: accreditors, unions?
03Gather Local Data
Build a fuller account with numbers and testimony.
- Institutional research and registrar: caps, DFW rates, enrollment by modality
- Faculty surveys: workload, capacity for feedback, time per student
- Student surveys: quality of feedback, writing center access
- National benchmarks: the course cap dataset and the CCCC standard
04Compare to National Standards
Cite the field's professional standards in place of personal preference.
- CCCC: 20 students maximum per writing class, 15 preferred, 60 per instructor per term
- National median cap in first-year composition: 22. Two-year median: 25
- About 37 percent of 417 institutions report a cap of 20 or lower
- Present the standard as a professional norm, not an experimental threshold
05Plan a Sharing Event
Move from private knowledge to shared understanding.
- One page: situation, standard, gap, and one bounded request
- Faculty workshop or retreat: build internal consensus first
- Program review or accreditation addendum: create a formal record
- Joint faculty letter: collective voice and shared accountability
06Move into Governance or Beyond
Use official channels first, and know the alternatives.
- Curriculum committee, faculty senate, formal proposal
- Trojan Horse: place the request inside an administrative priority
- Union: grievance or contract negotiation
- Accreditor, professional organization, or, as a last resort, the press
AContingent, non-tenure-track, or adjunct
Higher risk: protect yourself first
Build a coalition before acting. Document everything. Seek tenured allies before raising an issue in public. Consider anonymous or collective action.
BTenure-track or early-career WPA
Moderate risk: act strategically
You have formal standing to raise disciplinary issues. Cite professional standards to move the argument away from personal preference. Build faculty allies. Document administrative work as scholarship.
CTenured or experienced WPA
Lower risk: act with full authority
Lead coalition-building. Bring issues to governance formally. Use the position to protect contingent colleagues. Draw on a national profile where one exists.
thewritingprogramexchange.org/playbook.html · Cole, K., Hassel, H., et al. (2025, revised 2026). Labor Advocacy Playbook. The Writing Program Exchange.
Scenario Quick Reference
Six institutional scenarios with recommended approaches| Institution and position | Issue | Risk | Recommended approach | Key standards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Community college Continuing-contract faculty | Caps of 27 after developmental education reform. DFW rate at 33 percent. | Moderate | Disaggregate DFW by placement pathway and cap size with institutional research. Test whether the increase tracks the loss of developmental support. Present the cap reduction as a retention measure and bring it to the curriculum committee. | CCCC Principles (2023) TYCA workload white paper (2021) |
| Regional university Tenure-track WPA | A "divisive concepts" law threatens an anti-racist curriculum. | Higher | Establish what the law prohibits. Build a faculty coalition before responding to the dean. Describe the pedagogy as rhetorical inquiry. Document everything in writing. | NCTE statement on discussing complex topics (2024) |
| Comprehensive university Tenured WPA | A dean requests an Early College launch in July. The request arrives in March. | Lower | Answer "not yet" in place of "no." Propose conditional agreement: qualified instructors, appropriate caps, curriculum alignment, adequate timeline. Put concerns in writing. | Joint statement on dual enrollment (2019) Framework for Success (2011) |
| Community college Adjunct instructor | Online sections capped at 35, face-to-face at 27, with no differential pay. | Higher | Collect data anonymously first. Bring it to a tenured ally for governance. Frame the issue as student equity in instructor time per student. | CCCC statement on online writing instruction (2013) TYCA workload white paper (2021) |
| Research university Assistant professor | Administrative work counted as service in tenure review. | Moderate | Act before the pre-tenure review. Bring both statements to the chair. Propose "program development scholarship" as file language. Go to the dean if the chair does not respond. | CWPA, Intellectual Work (1998) CCCC scholarship guidelines (2018) |
| Liberal arts college Tenured WPA | Adjunct-taught sections rose from 40 to 75 percent. DFW rising, coherence declining. | Lower | Present DFW by instructor type and satisfaction by section. Propose a specific intervention with costs. Bring it to the curriculum committee and the faculty senate together. | CCCC working conditions statement (2016) CCCC faculty hiring statement (2016) TYCA workload white paper (2021) |
When official channels are blocked
(1) Trojan Horse: place the request inside an administrative priority such as retention or accreditation. (2) Faculty senate: a non-binding resolution creates a formal record. (3) Union: consult your representative first. (4) Accreditor: frame the data in SACSCOC or HLC terms. (5) Professional organizations: confirm which consultation or statements each currently offers. (6) Press: a last resort, for severe and well-documented violations.
CCCC statements are archived at cccc-l.org/repository/position-statements. thewritingprogramexchange.org/playbook.html · Cole, K., Hassel, H., et al. (2025, revised 2026). Labor Advocacy Playbook. The Writing Program Exchange.