The Writing Center, staffed by professional writing instructors and advanced, highly trained undergraduate students, operates as an independent department on the Winona campus of Saint Mary's University. Its interdisciplinary services are available to all undergraduate and graduate students of all levels who want to come to think and talk about writing and receive qualified feedback on any writing project.

The Writing Center takes the LaSallian mission of hospitality and service seriously, and students who enter the Writing Center doors find a space that promotes dignity and respect. In keeping with this mission of hospitality and service, the overall goal of the Writing Center is to work together with students in their development as writers by discussing with them questions or concerns they may have in academic writing. This is done through individual tutoring sessions in which writers exchange honest, one-on-one dialogue with a tutor about their writing at any stage of the writing process.

This partnership between writers and tutors gives writers a voice in determining how the tutoring session is run. In other words, the tutor does not "take charge" of the tutoring session, give out "correct" advice, or rewrite the piece of work; rather, the tutor's role is that of a colleague and a friend who asks questions, makes suggestions, and listens. In this role, tutors respect and trust the work of writers and understand that writers must maintain ownership of their writing and their learning. The shared conversation between writers and tutors in tutoring sessions is a learning experience for both partners; writers learn how to further organize, develop, and support their ideas as well as gain valuable editing skills in order to proofread their own work more accurately; consultants gain valuable experience as writers, teachers, learners, and communicators.

The collaborative partnership between writers and tutors is the central focus of the work we do in the Writing Center. In honoring this partnership, tutors have an ethical responsibility to refuse to edit or proofread student papers because when the tutor takes on the role of proofreader, the work between writer and tutor is no longer collaborative and leaves control of the session in the tutor's hands; the focus of the session becomes the improvement of the writing rather than the improvement of the writer's skills. Tutors also are ethically obligated to avoid making judgments about grades or conferencing about a teacher's comments on a paper because they are not qualified to do so. Writing Center tutors regard writers with respect, admiration, and sensitivity; therefore, they are ethically prohibited from discussing tutoring sessions with any individual other than the writer, including professors, unless the writer gives permission for the tutor to do so. This is why we do not notify professors of student visits unless students ask us to.

The social act of tutoring allows tutors and writers to connect: to ideas, to the effort of making meaning, and to each other as fellow human beings. The Writing Center remains committed to the connection it holds with the Saint Mary's University community of writers.