CCCC Position Statements

These are selected equity-oriented statements from CCCC, which is the national organization for scholars in our field:

Students Right to Their Own Language (1974, reaffirmed 2003, 2014): We affirm the students’ right to their own patterns and varieties of language — the dialects of their nurture or whatever dialects in which they find their own identity and style. Language scholars long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any validity. The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another. Such a claim leads to false advice for speakers and writers, and immoral advice for humans. A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve its heritage of dialects. We affirm strongly that teachers must have the experiences and training that will enable them to respect diversity and uphold the right of students to their own language.

Student Veterans in the College Composition Classroom: Realizing Their Strengths and Assessing Their Needs (2015): Student veterans are experienced writers and communicators who are familiar with military genres of writing and questions of authorship sometimes different from but related to those encountered in higher education.  That expertise and familiarity should be acknowledged, explored, and built upon. (excerpt)

A Policy on Disability at CCCC (2006, reaffirmed 2011): Disability studies research in the fields of composition, rhetoric, and literacy studies has yielded variations on the composing process, alternative ways of working with students in classrooms and writing centers, histories of oppression in education and literacy practices, theoretical explorations of queer and disabled subjectivity, and critiques of “normate” pedagogy’s exclusionary power. (excerpt)

Statement on Effective Institutional Responses to Threats of Violence and Violent Acts Against Minoritized and Marginalized Faculty and Graduate Students (2019): “In cases where minoritized and marginalized teacher-scholars are threatened, harassed, or adversely targeted based on their linguistic, religious, gender, and/ or racial characteristics, inhibiting the fulfillment of their professional responsibilities, CCCC affirms that academic institutions have a responsibility to protect and support minoritized and marginalized faculty.” (excerpt)

Position Statement on CCCC Standards for Ethical Conduct Regarding Sexual Violence, Sexual Harassment, and Hostile Environments (2016, revised 2020): This statement offers a glossary for understanding such misconduct, as well as resources on reporting sexual misconduct and workplace bullying, and resources on professional ethics. (excerpt)

This Ain’t Another Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice! (2020) “The language of Black students has been monitored, dismissed, demonized—and taught from the positioning that using standard English and academic language means success. Since these terms’ early inception, schools have upheld linguistic ideologies that continue to marginalize Black students. Socially constructed terms like academic language and standard English are rooted in white supremacy, whiteness, and anti-Blackness and contribute to anti-Black policies (e.g., English only) that are codified and enacted to privilege white linguistic and cultural norms while deeming Black Language inferior.” (excerpt)

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This is the Conference on College Composition & Communication logo. It uses yellow, orange, and red, and next to the words, there are four Cs wrapped together.