ABSTRACT
Writing program administrators and instructors who took an advocacy approach were highly conscious of the importance of situating their work in the big picture of higher education, as its demographics diversify and its missions evolve. Mainstream writing support showed a tendency to create and stay within a disciplinary territory of shared terminology and understanding, stability, and simplicity—a tendency that aligned with assimilationist and monocultural views about higher education. Educational and advocacy-driven approaches to supporting international students are also useful more broadly for creating a welcoming and supporting environment. Involving international graduate students in positions of support or leadership was a striking shift from the persisting tendency to view them in deficit terms. Advocacy for international students should not be done without as much sensitivity to the needs and struggles of domestic graduate students.
