“Thank you, Kenneth,” she said in a sweet tone. “I’m glad you think it’s a cute idea. But I fail to see how all English students couldn’t benefit from an experience like this. Contrary to your beliefs, many of our students do go on to a Library Science graduate program, this kind of experience could be a tremendous help.”

If she were proposing something as exciting as rock wall in the rec center or ice-cream Thursdays in the quad, she wouldn’t have to plead her case to Kenneth. But since her idea actually involved educational development, she was stuck climbing the chain of command. Victoria knew that bringing her case to the Curriculum and Policy Committee would be rough with her boss acting as their chair. He would lead the small group for an entire academic year, so his approval would be necessary. The other professors, who presided over curriculum business, deferred most decisions to him in hopes of ending the meeting earlier. Her peers sat at a large round table in one of the meeting rooms of Stevenson Hall, some watching the clock tick away the seconds. If the shape of the table was supposed to be a metaphor for an equal division of power, it was a laughable attempt with Williams acting as their leader. Democracy was not his style.

Kenneth shifted in his seat and looked to the others for help. He wore the smug grin she was used to, but he appeared to be running out of viable excuses. “An M.A. in Library Science is hardly what our department wants to be known for. Those are the students who couldn’t hack it in literature.”

The focus of their department was literature, but times were changing. Technical writing, journalism, and education needed to muscle their way into the discourse if students had a fighting chance to succeed with a degree in English. While Kenneth and Victoria had been lucky to earn doctorates in Literature Studies and score jobs, their students would have a struggling economy to contend with. Before she could open her mouth to object, Sydney Spellman, from the Biology department, jumped in. “Kenneth, I wouldn’t be so harsh on the students who aren’t following your literary path.”

He shrugged. “I just think that in this climate, we should be wary of spreading our already thin resources on a graduate program that we don’t even have.”

“Now that’s an idea,” said Marcus Pierce, from Social Work. “We could start a Library Sciences program. I heard online enrollment can be pretty decent. Plus, there’s a new trend of social workers helping people within local library systems...” He wrote the idea down in a notepad. Victoria snuck a covert glance at his notes. 4 Week Ideas.