'Dear Stanford': Letter 33

A Collection of Letters in Support of Stanford's 23 Jones Lecturers

On August 21st, 23 Creative Writing lecturers were ‘future fired’ in a meeting with Deans, Directors, and Professors that oversee the program. Writing against the firing and in support of their teachers, students’ and alums’ letters to the administration alike have received auto-replies and brief responses to their concerns. This Substack is a space for these letters. This one is by Sara Simoni, ‘26.

Dear Stanford,

I’m a current Junior majoring in English with an emphasis in Creative, and from what I’ve gathered, I don’t believe there’s too many of my kind in the class of 2026. For as long as I can remember, the heart of the creative writing community has always been in the lecturers who teach all of our favorite classes, and the seniors who will be graduating in the spring. That being said, this entire program that extends so far beyond English Majors with a Creative Writing Emphasis is in jeopardy, and I could easily see things completely falling apart with the loss of both 23 lecturers and the seniors. This is a community that draws people to the humanities more so than any other subject or department. It allows for students to express themselves and be seen on a campus where we easily become statistics on a screen. I have never been one for the dramatics, in fact I would argue I shy away from every political stance, protest, or other type of large scale confrontation. But this is something I can’t ignore, as this whole ordeal pertains to my present, my future, and everything I value.

I have had a couple great interactions and classes with Creative Writing professors, I am not hating on the department as a whole, or the professors. But the hard reality is that professors do not provide students with the necessities that extend beyond the classroom. When I am frantically searching for someone to write a letter of rec, or someone to be a mentor for my independent project, lecturers are the only ones to step up to the plate.

When I have questions about classes, the Major, programs, how to go about my future aspirations, lecturers are the ones to get back to emails (usually in a couple days vs. the two quarters it took to hear back from the director of Creative Writing), they are the ones who are willing to schedule one on one meetings with me.

My main issues with this decision is that it was very unfair to the lecturers, and the students who had no say in this massive decision for a department and community that impacts so many Stanford students. My other issue is that everyone involved in this decision seemed to completely overlook how this would play out in the long run. Professors will not change, whether it be because they have their own time consuming obligations or something else, they will not suddenly have the time to fill the gap of these lecturers. They will not respond to every student, or be a mentor, or offer the guidance that was essentially promised in the well advertised faculty and student relationship Stanford holds dear. And that’s ok, no one is demanding that they be the ones who fill this need, but what they cannot do is continue this separation while taking away all the lecturers who do provide this core part of the department. And the plan to reinstate Stegner Fellows as lecturers for one to two years will not fill this void. They will not know how to go about building connections and creating the environment that have become so unique to the creative writing classrooms. And beyond the lack of knowledge and experience, they will not be on campus long enough to form connections, and fill the mentorship positions that are needed over a longer period of time. It is a proposed system that simply will not work.

I hold no animosity for anyone in the Creative Writing department, I truly mean that, hoping decisions were made on the basis of what people genuinely thought would be best for the program and it’s students. But I urge anyone involved in this decision to have enough humility to admit when a mistake was made, and that there is a better way to go about this large-scale transition. Whether they are willing to acknowledge it or not, we all know that this was a mistake, and the wrong decision overall. There is no shame in imperfection, but these faculty members will ultimately lose the respect of the students and people all across the university if they do not take the necessary steps to understand the situation better, and ultimately find a better solution to meet the needs of students.

As a junior whose main mentor will be here until I graduate, this will not affect me too deeply. But as someone who wants to go into academia, to study English and continue my studies and practices in Creative Writing, this issue is very important to me. I want Stanford, a leading university in every subject, especially creative writing, to become an example for how lecturers and students should be treated and valued. When I hopefully find my place as a faculty member in a university some day, I hope that the academic leaders of the humanities will have kept programs like this alive and thriving for the next generation of scholars and students. Because programs like this are how you save the humanities, and how you foster creativity in an increasingly uncreative world.

Sincerely,

Sara Simoni, ‘26