Although recent budget cuts
have caused the Writing Center to
make necessary changes it still a vi-
able resource for students in need.
The Writing Center assists stu-
dents and computer access to stu-
dents.
Luckily with the recent budget
cuts that have taken affect through-
out campus havent’t affected the
Writing Center when it comes to
aiding students who come in person
for assistance.
However, during spring semester
the Writing Center took down its
online tutoring for students who, for
any reason, are unable to make it to
the Center for help.
Now if students decide they
want to use it, they encounter a mes-
sage that states the system “tempo-
rarily suspended due to budgetary
cutbacks.”
“We had to take it down because
since our budget was cut, the staff
was cut down, too, and we didn’t
have enough people to run it,” Mark
Walch, a tutor from the center said.
In addition to the change that
was made in spring, this semester
the Writing Center changed a cou-
ple of its policies.
For example, receptionists no lon-
ger have to log students in and log
them out on their computers at the
front desk.

“Signing them in and signing them
out on the computer reported how
long the students were in here,”
Caryn Hoopingarner, who has been
working at the Center for two years,
said.
“Because of budget cuts, we have
a new system. Before we were more
concerned about the minutes being
used on the computers, now we’re
more concerned about how many
people we have at the Center for our
statistics,” Tim Coate, staff member,
said.
Students who have gone to the
Writing Center in past semesters
may have also noticed that during
their visit this semester, the recep-
tionists are no longer handling their
student IDs.
Hoopingarner said that this is
due to the fact that swine flu may
be affecting students all over campus
this season.
The school nurse advised them to
not touch anyone’s IDs because the
flu is able to spread from touch.
“It’s a smart way to keep people
from getting sick this season,” Lia
Tofukuji, business management ma-
jor, said.
“It’s great to see that they’re tak-
ing action in order to keep the
student body safe and healthy.”
Despite the Writing Center
‘s several changes, it remains an
extremely useful resource for
EC’s students.
For students who don’t want
to wait a long time to get help
from a tutor, the Center opens
as early as 7 a.m.
The Center doesn’t close until
6 p.m. Monday to Thursday and
4 p.m. on Fridays.
Students are able to get help
if they need to learn things such
as how to make a resume for a
job or write their personal state-
ment for college.
There are about nine tutors
who work at the Writing Center
who are always willing to help
students with any type of writ-
ing assignment.
Students can even go in if
they need help specifically for
getting tutored in grammar or
setting up a paper format.
“I’ve been to the Center a few
times for help and went in there
another time because I didn’t know
how to set up the MLA (Modern
Language Association) format for
my essay,” Tofukuji said.
“The tutors are so helpful because
they don’t make you feel dumb, even
if you have a lot of mistakes. Instead,
they just find the best ways to im-
prove my writing technique.”