It has been brought to my attention that the Writing Tutor at Stanford's American Indian/Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Program Office, Ms. Laurie Kehoe, is being laid off. Laurie is a tremendous resource not only to Native American students at Stanford, but to all of those in the Native community (Native and non-Native alike). Students credit her for single-handedly helping them to pass freshman writing course like Introduction to the Humanities and Program in Writing and Rhetoric, to improve their writing skills, and to enable them to successfully graduate from Stanford University. Of all the resources and support staff provided via the AI/AN/NH Program Office, Ms. Kehoe is invaluable. She makes herself available night or day to assist students with assignments, and her love for the students is obvious. Ms. Kehoe has helped hundreds of students since she was hired as the writing tutor in the late 1990s. She is not expendable, and if anything her position needs to be legitimized by the university and institutionalized to a full time staff position. I am against the termination of Laurie Kehoe as the Writing Tutor at the AI/AN/NH Program Office, and I urge the Program Office and Stanford University to seek other means to mitigate budget constraints.

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