Diversity, Inclusivity, and Social Justice Statement

The Diversity and Social Justice Committee drafted the following statement, and Online Writing Centers Association released it on February 28, 2025.

Diversity, Inclusivity, and Social Justice Statement

The Online Writing Centers Association (OWCA) is committed to present and future efforts in diversity, inclusivity, and social justice within the online writing center community. The Executive Board and Diversity and Social Justice Committee have created this statement as a living document that is subject to change based on the input of our membership and scholarship in diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Our statement will adapt with the purpose of advancing the OWCA’s values and practices in accordance with how to serve our increasingly diverse membership. 

We strive to recognize the role and definition of diversity for online writing centers. Within the online writing center community, diversity is defined as the students, professionals, and scholar-practitioners from various linguistic, racial, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds who populate our spaces. We recognize that the history of writing centers, grounded in traditional writing forms and “standard American English,” has been exclusionary and served as a gatekeeping function for People of Color, bi- and multilingual speakers, LGBTQIA+, and individuals with disabilities. As such, we believe that inclusive diversity is founded on the following:

  1. recognition of intersectional identities that does not separate the social, cultural, and physiological dimensions of an individual’s being (Crenshaw, 1991) and 
  2. conviction in social justice and the integral need for systemic changes  (Cyr, 2018; Mitchell & Randolph Jr., 2019). 

To this end, we commit to challenging the convenient and singular narrative (Adichie, 2009) and asking uncomfortable questions that make us reflect on our actions and ability to be a force of change within online writing centers (Grimm, 2011). Further, we are committed to celebrating linguistic diversity and advocating for linguistic justice. Accordingly, we strongly reject a monolingual ideology that centers on standardized academic edited English in higher education. Instead, we support multilingual and marginalized/minoritized writers’ agency and value decolonial practices such as code meshing/translanguaging, translingualism, and plurilingualism.  

We are committed to challenging limited conceptions of writing, language, and literacy instruction. We believe that online writing centers worldwide must work consistently to sustain diverse, equitable principles through critical literacy, multiliteracy and translingual pedagogies, professional development, and assessment practices.

Our current goals are as follows: 

  1. Publish and continually develop resources on guiding and enabling inclusivity and equity in academic writing. 
  2. Continually revise and disseminate our biannual membership survey. The survey will not be the only way in which we determine our initiatives and approach. We will remain mindful of the need to not rely entirely on numbers and keep the focus on recognizing and enabling plurality in all aspects of identity (Cyr, 2018). 
  3. Hold at least one seminar focused on diversity/social justice per year and ensure the OWCA annual Conference remains committed to giving platforms to marginalized voices. 
  4. Support ongoing collaboration, research, and dialogue among OWCA members committed to accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging to help us identify and prioritize additional specific actions we can take as an organization.
  5. Based upon the OWCA Anti-Racism Statement of 2021, provide free 3-year individual memberships (including conference registration) for any student or professional who identifies as a person of color and 3-year institutional memberships for individuals working at a Minority Serving Institution (MSI), Historically Black College or University (HBCU), Tribal College or University (TCU), Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), or Asian American and Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AAPISI). 
  6. Recommend that the Executive Board explore offering free memberships to people with disabilities.
  7. In alignment with other OWCA committees, we are dedicated to the continued adherence to and auditing of our statements on anti-racism; accessibility; and diversity, inclusivity, and social justice. 

References

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July 23). The danger of a single story [Video]. TEDGlobal, TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story 

Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review. 43(6), 1241-99.

Cyr, L. (2018). Literature review: Interdisciplinary findings on diversity and inclusion. In: S. Gertz, B. Huang, L. Cyr, (Eds.), Diversity and inclusion in higher education and societal contexts (pp. 17 – 34). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70175-2_2

Grimm, N. M. (2024). Retheorizing writing center work to transform a system of advantage based on race. In Landmark Essays in Contemporary Writing Center Studies (pp. 119-138). Routledge.

Mitchell, K.L.and Randolph E.R. Jr. (2019) A page from our book: Social justice lessons from the HBCU writing center. Writing Center Journal. 37(2), 21-42.