The Writing Center is a student support service entirely funded by student tuition and fees. We are part of the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the Provost.
Like other student support services such as academic advising, university counseling services, the library, and many others, all students—acting in accordance with DePaul’s Code of Conduct and not violating any of our 
Workplace Expectations & Protections—are entitled to Writing Center services by paying tuition and as such we ask that you work with any writer on any topic.
Workplace Expectations & Protections—are entitled to Writing Center services by paying tuition and as such we ask that you work with any writer on any topic.In addition to our institutional identity as part of the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of the Provost and the right to our services all students have as part of their tuition fees, your obligations derive from DePaul’s Guiding Principles for Speech and Expression at DePaul University.
🌎 All Students, Any Topic
- Tutors must work with every writer who makes an appointment with them.
- Tutors must make a good faith effort to treat every writer with kindness, respect, and professionalism.
- Tutors may not opt out of an appointment based on discomfort with the writer or their paper topic.
We only hold you to these obligations given the range of Workplace Expectations & Protections that, taken as a whole, allow each one of us to have a safe and healthy workplace and serve our mission to DePaul. If an appointment or any other communication between a writer and tutor involves a tutor being harassed or threatened or otherwise violates Workplace Expectations & Protections, the writer will be reported to the appropriate DePaul office(s) so that the matter can be further investigated.
Workplace Expectations & Protections that, taken as a whole, allow each one of us to have a safe and healthy workplace and serve our mission to DePaul. If an appointment or any other communication between a writer and tutor involves a tutor being harassed or threatened or otherwise violates Workplace Expectations & Protections, the writer will be reported to the appropriate DePaul office(s) so that the matter can be further investigated.Consequences for Not Following Your Obligation to Work With Any Writer on Any Topic
Tutors who refuse to work with a writer or on a given paper will be subject to progressive discipline measures up to and including termination.
🗯️ Speech and Expression
Part of DePaul’s Speech & Expression Policies & Procedures; Guiding Principles listed here approved on May 26, 2017
DePaul University's Mission is built upon the Vincentian ideal of universal dignity in which each person is invaluable and worthy of respect. That dignity depends in no small measure upon an individual's freedom and opportunity to give voice to their beliefs and on each individual's freedom and opportunity to choose whether and how to respond. DePaul therefore aspires to be a community marked by mutual respect and a community in which we never lose sight of the potential effects, both beneficial and harmful, of our words and of our expressive conduct. In this spirit, we affirm the following principles of speech and expression:
- We deem free and open expression as essential to intellectual inquiry. We affirm that, as a university, we have a responsibility to provide a setting in which a broad and diverse range of ideas can be exchanged civilly and respectfully.
- We affirm the right of members of the DePaul community to engage in speech and expression consistent with the values of academic freedom, free inquiry, and civil discourse.
- We affirm our responsibility to foster a respectful and inclusive learning environment. We recognize that part of DePaul's Mission is to continuously and actively amplify marginalized voices and to create opportunities for conversations that advance social justice.
- We affirm the right of individuals to express their viewpoints, even at the risk of controversy.
- We affirm the right of individuals to choose whether and how to respond to speech and expression. This may include responding with additional speech and expression, such as protests that respect the right of individuals to express their views.
- We affirm that the primary goal of speech and expression in a university context is to advance and enliven the intellectual life of the community. The University is committed to the principle that it may not restrict speech and expression simply because the ideas put forth are controversial. Rather, the role of the University is to create the conditions in which members of the University community have the opportunity to critically engage with a diversity of viewpoints. At the same time, we also recognize that speech and expression that serves only to threaten or intimidate does not further these goals.
- We affirm a presumption in favor of permitting speech and expression as essential to the pursuit of knowledge in the University setting. University policies and procedures will be interpreted and applied consistently with this presumption.
Consistent with the Guiding Principles above, and mindful of its commitment to fostering an educational community that welcomes free and open discourse, the University may also reasonably regulate the time, place and manner of speech and expression for a variety of reasons, including to allow for the continuance of University business or to ensure the safety and security of the campus and members of the DePaul community.
In no case should any form of expression taking place at DePaul University be construed as an endorsement of the particular ideas or expression in question by the University, except when officially stated otherwise.
Several University policies and procedures set forth specific standards for conduct in a variety of circumstances that could involve speech and expression. These Guiding Principles inform the application of those policies. Community members are encouraged to consult sources such as the University Policies and Procedures website for further information on specific policies.
In support of these Guiding Principles, DePaul University has established the Speech and Expression Advisory Committee (SEAC). SEAC increases consistency as to how various policies and procedures are aligned with the Guiding Principles by providing a forum through which a standing group of community representatives routinely engages with the Guiding Principles. SEAC is charged with educating the DePaul community about the Guiding Principles. SEAC is also charged with reviewing the Guiding Principles on an annual basis, and providing consultation regarding how the Guiding Principles could be further integrated into university activities, policies, and procedures. More detailed information regarding SEAC can be found here.
🧭 Navigating the "Contact Zone"
While it is not the only framework by which we approach the dynamic and at-times intense work of helping student writers and engaging with their ideas, one theoretical/conceptual idea that informs our work is the idea that writing centers are by definition a “Contact Zone.” Given the range of courses and topics of study at DePaul, and the myriad backgrounds and identities of both our staff and the students and writers engaging in these courses and topics of study, any particular Writing Center appointment you're in can become a contact zone—“social space(s) where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power, such as colonialism, slavery, or their aftermaths as they are lived out in many parts of the world today” (Pratt, 1991, p. 34).
Negotiating differences in a contact zone can, we know from experience, bring "rage, incomprehension, and pain"; it can also involve "exhilarating moments of wonder and revelation, mutual understanding, and new wisdom—the joys of the contact zone" (Pratt, 1991, p. 39 ). It is Important to understand that while they may include some discomfort or disagreement, these situations are educational and necessary in a college environment.
As a tutor, we ask that you have a willingness to productively navigate the contact zones in which you find yourself, and we are committed to providing you with training and strategies for doing so. And not only are we committed to providing such training, but our request that you navigate the contact zone in your work with writers is only ethical given the Workplace Expectations & Protections that exist to make sure your rights are protected while you're working at the Writing Center.
Workplace Expectations & Protections that exist to make sure your rights are protected while you're working at the Writing Center.Arts of the Contact Zone
Representing and Negotiating Differences in the Contact Zone