1979
Major issues related to staffing and curriculum continue to build but have not yet erupted. Tension related to staffing issues grows. There is a large influx of students expected for Fall 1979, but there is no university or departmental plan for how to accommodate the students. The trend of fewer students testing out of the E 306 requirement prior to arriving on campus continues. Kinneavy and Moldenhauer begin having interpersonal conflicts over both staffing and curriculum. Significant efforts are made by the FEPC to standardize curriculum and policy issues within the Freshman Writing Program. Issues of temporary/adjunct labor are raised, with rhetoric and composition faculty largely advocating in favor of expanding the rights and improving the compensation for contingent faculty. The state legislature continues to monitor teaching trends, and in particular how writing is being taught at UT Austin. Kinneavy begins planning a large-scale assessment of the E 306 course and its effectiveness. Department Chair Joe Moldenahauer introduces a point system to account for faculty teaching loads. There is some tension between rhetoric and composition faculty and literature faculty over hiring priorities in the tenure-track ranks for the upcoming year. At the end of the calendar year Kinneavy makes an aggressive proposal to hire six tenure-track lines in writing and composition, but does not win support for the proposal.
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