Since becoming a tutor at The Writing Center, I have been curious about how The UCWbL’s Core Practices play out in my everyday life, specifically in Public Relations since it is my major. When I was thinking about how the field of PR could emulate these Core Practices, I immediately thought of the need for more open and honest communication.
While the core goal of Public Relations is to establish clear, honest, and respectful communication between an organization and their constituents, the more familiar and normalized form of PR does not reflect this. Instead, PR is often used as a means of covering up a scandal or making one seem less tragic. With this understanding, I was left to think about how PR ethics and theory relate to The Writing Center and its tutors, as well as how both fields can learn from one another.
First, I established that ethical PR is built off of truthful communication. In fact, honest communication is what drives the field of PR, despite how some might abuse the practice. Thus, honest and clear communication is necessary when practicing PR as it is intended to be used. This is when I began to find similarities between how writing center tutors and PR specialists use clear, honest, and respectful communication.
The field of PR has a name for this type of communication: Two-Way Symmetric Communication. This model of communication is meant to establish an equal playing field where the client (the writer) and the PR specialist (the tutor) can feel comfortable making suggestions, comments, and compromises when it comes to a piece of writing. Through my experiences at The Writing Center, this is exactly the kind of communication we tutors strive to use when in appointments.
When further exploring how The Writing Center can benefit from PR ethics, I found that there was an emphasis on spreading and disclosing information within the field. Through the use of clear and honest communication, we as tutors can disclose information to our tutees about processes such as why we ask our writers to read their piece out loud. Beyond that, The UCWbL can use pamphlets, interviews, articles, and events to communicate information about The Writing Center’s mission and what actually happens within an appointment.
While The UCWbL and Public Relations don’t seem similar at first glance, the fields are certainly intertwined when it comes to the need for clear and honest communication. The UCWbL can learn from good and bad PR. If we as peer tutors cannot communicate our processes or values to the greater DePaul community, our writers and reputation will suffer. Thus, we as writing center tutors must strive towards using strong communication skills in order to positively represent our organization and college.