This article is a story in progress and will be updated as we receive more information.
The Writers Room—formerly known as the Writing Center—changed its name and moved from the Shapiro Center for Creative Writing and Criticism (Shapiro) on 116 Mount Vernon St. to a new location on the first floor of the Science Library in the Exley Science Center over the summer. The new space, a glass-walled former study room, features rolling whiteboards, bean bags, two tables with four chairs each, and a sign out front welcoming students to the new space.
In addition to the study room, the new location includes offices behind the Science Library circulation desk, which will be occupied by Writers Room administrators such as the Writing Workshop Ford Fellow Zariah Greene ’24, Kim Frank Multilingual Writing Fellow Xiran Tan ’24, Associate Professor of the Practice in English Beth Hepford, and the Assistant Director of Academic Writing Lauren Silber. The new space brings the administrators—who used to be on the third floor of Shapiro, far away from the first-floor nook where tutoring took place—closer to the tutoring space.
Writers Room tutors hope that the move to Exley will make their services more accessible and help boost participation.
“Just being more centrally located, being in Exley is going to be better,” Elias Owen ’25, a tutor since 2022, said.
Beyond the convenient location, having the Writers Room in the University’s science center might help change perceptions of writing being a separate discipline from the hard sciences. Additionally, moving the writing room to Exley Science Center offers a more centrally located resource for students.
Before the Writers Room was the Writing Center, it was the Writing Workshop, and was hosted in a bottom floor nook in Shapiro that could seat four people—up to two tutors and two tutees—at one time. Some longtime tutors reflected on the recent string of name changes.
“I have mixed emotions,” Owen said. “Part of me misses the old ways of the Writing Center, but I think that the [rebranding] to the Writers Room makes it feel a little bit more cozy and homey.”
Others approved of the name change.
“I definitely like how it sounds,” Margery Fang ’26, who has been a tutor for the past year, said.
Beginning on Monday, Sept. 16, the Writers Room will offer 45-minute one-on-one meetings to support students with their writing in a glass-walled former study room. At the Writers Room, trained student writing tutors offer their peers any writing assistance they may want, including writing for any of their courses, applications to graduate schools and fellowships, and their own personal creative writing. From brainstorming and drafting to proofreading and revision skills, tutors and mentors at the Writers Room are open to discuss all student writing needs. Students interested in the service must schedule an appointment through the “Writing Workshop Account” page under the “Academics” dropdown on the WesPortal page.
In addition to the tutoring program, the Writers Room runs a mentoring program, a one-on-one weekly service where students meet consistently with a writing mentor. Participating in the mentoring program earns students a 0.25 credit. Students sign up to meet with a mentor by filling out an application and are matched to mentors based on a combination of mentor availability and mentee needs.
Tutors are hopeful that the changes will increase public knowledge of the Writers Room and its programs, and that the rebranding of the program will accompany a shift in thinking about the place of writing on campus.
“I think it’s good that the Writers Room was relocated to Sci Li because a lot of the conversations surrounding the challenging [of] conventional perceptions of what writing is [are] good,” Zain Punjwani ’26, a second-year tutor, said. “Science traditionally is…considered a different realm than writing, [and] challenging that by having a physical writing space dedicated to writing of all kinds is really cool to see.”
While the relocation to Exley may increase the program’s exposure to those studying science, tutors hope that it doesn’t discourage others from participating.
“I am a bit wary about new people who could come and see the location and think that this is only a science thing,” Owen said. “I think that it’s just on us to make it clear that we’re here for all types of writers.”
Despite the name change and relocation, the Writers Room mission to help students remains the same.
“Even though we rebranded on the name, our morale has never changed,” Fang said.
Caleb Henning contributed to reporting and can be reached at chenning@wesleyan.edu.
Spencer Landers can be reached at sklanders@wesleyan.edu.
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