Volume 67, Issue 4  

Big Apple Writing Tutors Converge on NYU

by Moshe Grussgott

For the second straight year, Yeshiva College Writing Center tutors participated in a four-hour symposium of tutors from other major colleges in New York City. Held on October 27th at the New York University Center for Expository Writing downtown, it was also attended by the writing center staffs of Columbia, NYU, Barnard, and Long Island University, thus dwarfing last year’s conference at the Wilf Campus, which drew only Barnard, Stern, and Yeshiva participants.

The purpose of the conference was to discuss problems and issues encountered by all writing tutors, and for each university to present its approach to tutoring. About fifty people in all were in attendance, with each university sending around ten tutors in addition to its directors.

Dr. Lauren Fitzgerald, director of Yeshiva’s Center, was enthusiastic about the conference. “Along with being a terrific opportunity for tutors to learn more about writing centers,” began Fitzgerald, “I feel like the symposium was informative for everyone involved, including the directors, even me.” All Yeshiva tutors who attended unanimously echoed the director’s sentiments. Their presentation, entitled, “Taking the War to Other Fronts: Dealing with Different Kinds of Writing,” was especially well received. “We all thought you guys had the best presentation,” said one student from Barnard. “Besides for being informative, you were also witty and entertaining and created a Kiddush Hashem in the way you carried yourselves.”

Aside for the discussion of tutoring, the dialogue from the Yeshiva contingent often veered into pointing out the sociological differences between Yeshiva and other colleges in general, and how those differences manifest themselves, specifically in the realm of tutoring. One glaring example was that the conference was predominantly female, with only two male tutors in attendance from non-Judaic schools. “I didn’t know this would be such a great opportunity to meet girls,” said one tutor who asked to remain anonymous. “But seriously, I really feel we disproved the stereotype that self-expression and writing in general is a field better suited for female college students, while their male counter-parts are only interested in practical fields such as business or pre-law. We really stood our own ground with our colleagues from the top colleges in the city.”

It was also discovered that while other colleges tend to have their sessions in private, quiet cubicles, Yeshiva’s Writing Center has a system similar to a Beis Medrash, with tables positioned closely adjacent to each other and more than one session being conducted simultaneously at any given table. “This setup could be due to the fact that we’re used to studying Talmud in a noisy, communal setup every morning,” stated veteran YC tutor Aryeh Leichter, “so we’ve been conditioned to having to drown out noise while learning with a partner. [This conditioning is so prevalent] that tutoring in a private cubicle would be too eerily silent and uncomfortable for our client’s tastes. Then again, it’s probably just because we can’t afford cubicles,” Leichter quickly followed up, to the laughter of the crowd.

In general, all schools involved agreed that this year’s conference, the first of such size and scope in New York City, was successful enough to warrant another such conference next year. 

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