Conference Theme and Plenary Address:
“Students’ Right to their Own Language: 50 Years Later, What Undergraduate Researchers Teach Us”
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PLENARY ADDRESS
"Students’ Right to their Own Language," 50 Years Later:
What Undergraduate Researchers Teach Us
Acknowledging that students bring with them to college “their own language,” in 1974, the Conference on College Composition and Communication approved the following resolution:
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.
With the coming 50th anniversary of Students’ Right to Their Own Language (SRTOL), this year's plenary address by Dr. Dominic DelliCarpini recalls the events and history that gave rise to that landmark resolution. In his talk, Dr. DelliCarpini addresses current social challenges that once again test the resilience of SRTOL. He then turns to the hope embodied in the work of undergraduate researchers and mentors who have attended the Naylor Workshop over the past nine years—work that keeps the promises of the resolution alive.
Dominic DelliCarpini, Naylor Endowed Professor of Writing Studies and Dean of the York College Center for Community Engagement
About the Plenary Speaker:
Dominic DelliCarpini is the Naylor Endowed Professor of Writing Studies and Dean of the Center for Community Engagement at York College of Pennsylvania, where he also served 13 years as Writing Program Administrator, 5 years as Chief Academic Officer, and as Academic Senate President. He is the author/editor of five writing textbooks as well as numerous articles and book chapters. His presentations and publications derive from his identity as a teacher, administrator, and community activist/advocate. He has written and presented on topics related to civic engagement, writing program administration, and first-year writing pedagogy.
DelliCarpini earned his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania, and Masters and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University, where he was an Edwin Earle Sparks Fellow and recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for the College of Liberal Arts. Dr. DelliCarpini served as President and Executive Board member of the Council of Writing Program Administrators, national Secretary of The Conference on College Composition and Communication, and a member of the national Committee on Undergraduate Research. Dr. DelliCarpini was named recipient of the 2017 York County Economic Alliance “Spirit of York County” Award for community service, and the 2010 Professional Service and Leadership Award by York College. He was appointed by Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf to the board of PennSERVE, the Governor’s Commission on Public Service, and elected as Board Director for the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the York County Libraries, York County Community Foundation, the York County Bar Foundation (for which he served as President), the Healthy York Coalition, and various other community organizations. DelliCarpini founded and administers the annual Naylor Workshop on Undergraduate Research, now in its 9th year, and is co-editor of The Naylor Report on Undergraduate Research in Writing Studies as well as other articles on this topic.
With the support of generous donors, and with the leadership of the Center for Community Engagement team, his work supports the Urban Collaborative (which aims at housing equity and stability), the Arthur J. Glatfelter Institute for Public Policy (which does research in support of economic mobility), the Institute for Social Healing (which provides intellectual support for trauma-based care) and the Changemakers Service Network (which oversees service learning at the College). The Center also actively engages with and financially supports the Group Violence Intervention team, who are working to improve the lives of those impacted by gun violence and the resultant trauma.
In all these roles, he has admired and learned from those who lack privilege in the York community for their ability to take care of one another, and for the ways they have claimed and used their own language(s)—which are, at their heart, languages of love and care.
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