A student working on an EGUMPP assignment
David Scibilia/The Bona Venture
BY: BROOKE JOHNPIER, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Claire Fisher, a junior communication, social justice and advocacy major at St. Bonaventure University, had taken the EGUMPP course as part of her required classes.
“EGUMPP did not help me personally,” said Fisher. “The way the [program] was set up [made] learning short term.”
EGUMPP, or the English Grammar Usage Mechanics Punctuation Program, is a program used by Bonaventure’s Jandoli School of Communication. It was recently removed from Bonaventure’s curriculum due to dislike from both students and staff.
From Fall 2019 to Spring 2023, all incoming freshmen in the Jandoli school had to complete the program during their professional-writing courses. The current upperclassmen had to complete the program twice, while current sophomores only had to complete the program once throughout the academic year.
Sydney Labayewski, a sophomore broadcast journalism major, said she was not a fan of EGUMPP.
“It was convenient for a while, but we never wrote stories or anything of that sort to [show] what we learned from the modules,” said Labayewski.
Some of the professors that teach the professional-writing courses didn’t enjoy the program either.
“As a faculty, we’re still just trying to find the best way to get better grammar instruction,” said Chris Mackowski, a professor of communication at Bonaventure and Jandoli School associate dean of undergraduate students. “Last year, we wanted to kind of pick and choose some lessons, but the nature of the software wouldn’t let us cherry pick.”
Not being able to pick and choose specific lessons from EGUMPP posed a problem for professors who had a specific way of teaching. EGUMPP also wasn’t teaching more than grammar, according to Tara Walker, assistant professor of communication and internship coordinator.
“It’s essentially multiple choice questions about grammar,” said Walker. “It’s an important tool we all need to have, but there’s more to teaching writing than grammar.”
Aaron Chimbel, dean of the Jandoli School, agreed with Walker.
“Professors couldn’t use parts of it; it was all or none,” said Chimbel. “A lot of students didn’t like the program, and the faculty didn’t feel as though the students were retaining the information.”
Anne Lee, a lecturer in the Jandoli School, said she noticed the program caused students stress.
“I didn’t like it. I didn’t think it helped,” said Lee. “It caused students a lot of stress, and I never saw positive results from it.”
Although the program has been officially removed from the curriculum, some Jandoli students found the program helpful and liked it.
“It is a good opportunity for students to learn and grow as a writer,” said Landon Washburn, a sophomore sports media major. “Don’t get me wrong, it is not fun, but it is necessary for people in that career path.”
Hadley Thompson, a senior journalism and political science dual major, is another student who enjoyed the program, even though she had to do it twice.
“It was taxing, but I feel like it is still a strong practice of what makes us important communicators and writers,” said Thompson. “When I came into college, I did not know nearly as much as I thought I did grammar-wise [and] I think it is threatening to remove an important value [like EGUMPP from] overall education.”
The professional-writing teachers have a new approach as to how they’re going to teach grammar to their students.
“The new approach that we’re taking this semester is more of a holistic process that’s part of the classroom experience,” said Walker. “We’re [also] going to focus on a few key concepts, like commas.”
johnpibl23@bonaventure.edu
