Antiracist WAC Approach and Toolkit
The Writing Across Curriculum program at Syracuse University supports faculty in developing antiracist writing instruction and assessment practices. Our work builds on theories that support multilingual writers and that promote antiracist assessment strategies as we see such work as an integral part of writing across the curriculum. Our program challenges the traditional notion of WAC as an assimilationist process by using WAC as a way to subvert academic discourse that upholds white supremacist ideologies of language. The WAC Program has created an honest, challenging, yet supportive space where faculty can rethink pedagogical assumptions about writing and confront implicit biases that can emerge in writing assignments and assessment.
One of the WAC Program’s many innovative contributions centers on how it has addressed our current moment and location by integrating research in Writing Across the Curriculum with antiracist pedagogy and practices. Historically, Syracuse University has been plagued by racial incidents that have sparked protests and investigations. Pedagogically, there is consensus that there needs to be greater attention to how we teach our courses, including the practices and methods we employ to teach and access writing.
Antiracist WAC is not a “quick fix,” but an initiative that requires sustained conversations among faculty that extend beyond a single workshop or consultation.