Submitted. Hundreds of students from the University of the Fraser Valley continue to sign the #SaveUFV petition. With student organizers now meeting students on campus, signatures have been added at a rate of over 100 per day since the resumption of classes.
“Students at UFV are waking up to the fact that Jody Gordon and Eric Davis have made a disastrous decision to close the best writing centre in Canada,” said Jack Brown, #SaveUFV organizer. “The petition has gone viral, and many hundreds of students are speaking with one voice and saying save our Writing Centre!”
Under pressure from the #SaveUFV campaign, the UFV administration has ramped up its efforts to spin students, faculty, alumni, and community members, and continues to insist there is no plan to close the best writing centre in Canada.
“For two weeks now, the UFV administration has continued to promote erroneous information about their plan to close down the Writing Centre,” said Jack Brown, “and it’s now time for the Jody Gordon and Eric Davis to acknowledge the obvious – they are shutting down the best writing centre in the country.”
The UFV marketing and communications team released a statement Monday, which continued to promote the false idea that UFV’s Writing Centre was being expanded. The Writing Centre is not expanding, it is closing. The faculty are being reassigned to the departments of English and Communications, where they will teach front line courses and likely displace sessional instructors.
In an aim to boost its spin campaign and reach more students, the marketing team purchased paid advertising on the social media website Facebook.
“In their paid advertising, Jody Gordon and Eric Davis continue to insist that replacing professional writing instructors with unqualified undergraduates with no credentials is an improvement; that this decision has no budgetary upside; and that eliminating the premier institution of its kind in Canada will create ‘synergies’ that will benefit students,” said Jack Brown. “All of these claims are demonstrably false.”
The #SaveUFV campaign continues to grow organically, without the use of paid advertising and without relying on misinformation, half-truths, and spin.
The Rally for the Writing Centre, organized by #SaveUFV, is planned for next Wednesday, February 25th. All students, alumni, faculty, and community members are welcome to attend and stand up for the best writing centre in Canada.
“#SaveUFV has one goal: to save the best writing centre in the country. Students deserve to receive the world class service they already pay for. Join us next Wednesday, and help us roll back this disastrous decision!”