As a member of the staff at Laurentian
University's writing assistance centre, I would like to express
my thanks for the Sept. 30 article written by Heidi Ulrichsen,
headlined, Johnny and Janey can't read. It focused on the
troubling state of literacy at the post-secondary level. With
that said, while I found the article itself to be quite
accurate, the caption below the picture accompanying the piece
contained some misleading information.
Erin McGraw, described in the caption as a
fourth year student seeking help with her essay, is in fact a
fellow staff member at the writing centre. She has been serving
the Laurentian community as both a writing assistant and a peer
tutor over the past four years, and she has demonstrated
exceptional dedication and competency in her role. She
certainly deserves to be recognized for her hard work, and I
fear that her contributions were somewhat undervalued by the
caption. As a friend and a colleague, I felt a need to set the
record straight.
Evan Bate
Writing assistant,
Laurentian University