We, the undersigned, are united in our support for the former Director of the WCU Poetry Center and Conference, Dr. Kim Bridgford. During her four-year tenure, Dr. Bridgford has run a world-class Poetry Conference. She has truly been committed to bringing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity to the Conference constituencies. With an eye to President Weisenstein's Global Initiative, she has invited poets from all over the globe to read at the Center and to participate at the conference. Under her leadership, a generative connection has developed between the Poetry Center and the Arts Program that has led to several provocative installations, including the Romare Bearden Exhibit. She has provided the university community with a variety of diverse poetry-related programs, such as readings, poetry salons, and Visiting Poets including Anne Stevenson and Kay Ryan.
Dr. Bridgford has served and continues to serve her department, college, university, and community with the utmost professionalism. Her dedication to the Poetry Center and Conference's mission to further the study and appreciation of poetry is deeply admired. Her clarity of vision, her creative approach to problem solving, her interest in developing programs that are accessible and engaging to both our students and the university community is singular in its energetic focus.
Therefore, as a group, we believe that since no one in the WCU Administration can either clearly justify or plainly state why Dr. Bridgford has been reassigned from her position as Director of the Poetry Center and Conference, she should be reinstated as Director of the Center as quickly as possible. Any other action will be detrimental to the future of the Conference and the Center, as it will necessarily mean that the hundreds of poets and scholars who attend the conference and/or poetry center events annually will find and, if necessary, build other, more stable and welcoming creative and critical communities where we can share and celebrate our work.
Updates
October 22, 2014
we just hit 250 signatures and im honestly blown away by the support for kim and the poetry center. seeing so many people speak up about her impact is really powerful and shows how much this community cares about keeping her vision alive.
Reached 250 supporters
October 21, 2014
October 19, 2014
were moving fast on this one and i need your help to crack 250 signatures today. please grab the link and drop it in your group chats so we can keep this momentum going right now.
September 26, 2014
just saw that we passed 100 signatures and i am honestly blown away by the response. its clear how many people care about the future of the poetry center and what kim has built here.
Reached 100 supporters
September 25, 2014
132 Comments
the disgraceful way in which Dr. Bridgford was arbitrarily and capriciously dismissed exemplifies the worst political pettiness of academe. Having spent over $10,000 in nine years at West Chester, I hope the university takes the poets' and scholars' objections to her removal quite seriously.
I wouldn't be where I am today without Kim Bridgford, nor would many others. Even as a writer, no words are sufficient. Do not allow yourselves to lose her as Director; it would truly be a loss from which you would never recover.
I wholeheartedly support this petition. I have attended the conference for the past fifteen years, and it has made a huge contribution to my professional life as a writer and teacher, and to my personal life as well. I believe Kim Bridgford has done an excellent job as Director.
Kim Bridgford should be reinstated as WCU Poetry Center. When such a person is able to bring acclaim to a university by her inclusionary program development, she needs to be promoted not dismissed. Consider the goals of any higher education institution - to expand horizons.
The cancellation of the 2015 conference is, as X.J. Kennedy puts it, catastrophic. Whatever its underlying cause, the administration of the College of Arts and Sciences has communicated poorly with the community of poets who have made this conference as good as it is. Or was.
Dr. Bridgford was an inspiration to me during my time in the English M.A. program, and the center and conference were among the top reasons that I chose West Chester to pursue my degree. Both seemed to demonstrate a commitment to the writing community on the part of the administration that evidently did not exist. I cannot imagine a more suitable candidate than Kim Bridgford for the position, and unless she was removed for being over-qualified and pursuing other endeavors, she should be reinstated before the year is out.
Dr. Bridgford was an inspiration to me during my time in the English M.A. program, and the center and conference were among the top reasons that I chose West Chester to pursue my degree. Both seemed to demonstrate a commitment to the writing community on the part of the administration that evidently did not exist. I cannot imagine a more suitable candidate than Kim Bridgford for the position, and unless she was removed for being over-qualified and pursuing other endeavors, she should be reinstated before the year is out.
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We, the undersigned, are united in our support for the former Director of the WCU Poetry Center and Conference, Dr. Kim Bridgford. During her four-year tenure, Dr. Bridgford has run a world-class Poetry Conference. She has truly been committed to bringing racial, ethnic, and gender diversity to the Conference constituencies. With an eye to President Weisenstein's Global Initiative, she has invited poets from all over the globe to read at the Center and to participate at the conference. Under her leadership, a generative connection has developed between the Poetry Center and the Arts Program that has led to several provocative installations, including the Romare Bearden Exhibit. She has provided the university community with a variety of diverse poetry-related programs, such as readings, poetry salons, and Visiting Poets including Anne Stevenson and Kay Ryan.
Dr. Bridgford has served and continues to serve her department, college, university, and community with the utmost professionalism. Her dedication to the Poetry Center and Conference's mission to further the study and appreciation of poetry is deeply admired. Her clarity of vision, her creative approach to problem solving, her interest in developing programs that are accessible and engaging to both our students and the university community is singular in its energetic focus.
Therefore, as a group, we believe that since no one in the WCU Administration can either clearly justify or plainly state why Dr. Bridgford has been reassigned from her position as Director of the Poetry Center and Conference, she should be reinstated as Director of the Center as quickly as possible. Any other action will be detrimental to the future of the Conference and the Center, as it will necessarily mean that the hundreds of poets and scholars who attend the conference and/or poetry center events annually will find and, if necessary, build other, more stable and welcoming creative and critical communities where we can share and celebrate our work.
Updates
October 22, 2014
we just hit 250 signatures and im honestly blown away by the support for kim and the poetry center. seeing so many people speak up about her impact is really powerful and shows how much this community cares about keeping her vision alive.
Reached 250 supporters
October 21, 2014
October 19, 2014
were moving fast on this one and i need your help to crack 250 signatures today. please grab the link and drop it in your group chats so we can keep this momentum going right now.
September 26, 2014
just saw that we passed 100 signatures and i am honestly blown away by the response. its clear how many people care about the future of the poetry center and what kim has built here.
Reached 100 supporters
September 25, 2014
132 Comments
Kim Bridgford should be allowed to resume her good work. The sudden and opaque nature of her removal from the position of Poetry Center Director raises vastly more questions about WCU than about Dr. Bridgford.
the disgraceful way in which Dr. Bridgford was arbitrarily and capriciously dismissed exemplifies the worst political pettiness of academe. Having spent over $10,000 in nine years at West Chester, I hope the university takes the poets' and scholars' objections to her removal quite seriously.
I wouldn't be where I am today without Kim Bridgford, nor would many others. Even as a writer, no words are sufficient. Do not allow yourselves to lose her as Director; it would truly be a loss from which you would never recover.
I wholeheartedly support this petition. I have attended the conference for the past fifteen years, and it has made a huge contribution to my professional life as a writer and teacher, and to my personal life as well. I believe Kim Bridgford has done an excellent job as Director.
Kim Bridgford should be reinstated as WCU Poetry Center. When such a person is able to bring acclaim to a university by her inclusionary program development, she needs to be promoted not dismissed. Consider the goals of any higher education institution - to expand horizons.
The cancellation of the 2015 conference is, as X.J. Kennedy puts it, catastrophic. Whatever its underlying cause, the administration of the College of Arts and Sciences has communicated poorly with the community of poets who have made this conference as good as it is. Or was.
Dr. Bridgford was an inspiration to me during my time in the English M.A. program, and the center and conference were among the top reasons that I chose West Chester to pursue my degree. Both seemed to demonstrate a commitment to the writing community on the part of the administration that evidently did not exist. I cannot imagine a more suitable candidate than Kim Bridgford for the position, and unless she was removed for being over-qualified and pursuing other endeavors, she should be reinstated before the year is out.
Dr. Bridgford was an inspiration to me during my time in the English M.A. program, and the center and conference were among the top reasons that I chose West Chester to pursue my degree. Both seemed to demonstrate a commitment to the writing community on the part of the administration that evidently did not exist. I cannot imagine a more suitable candidate than Kim Bridgford for the position, and unless she was removed for being over-qualified and pursuing other endeavors, she should be reinstated before the year is out.
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Kim Bridgford should be allowed to resume her good work. The sudden and opaque nature of her removal from the position of Poetry Center Director raises vastly more questions about WCU than about Dr. Bridgford.