As generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools develop, questions about the legality and ethics of their constitution arise. This conversation shaper calls on stakeholders in writing centers to begin meaningfully addressing that training methods for, and generated outputs of, popular GenAI tools exhibit source use which may not meet the current academic integrity standards widely upheld by writing centers. Acknowledging this dissonance in future discussions paves the way for responsibly and transparently incorporating GenAI into writing center work. It also ensures that we pay attention to new technologies (Selfe, 1999) and more critically interpret our reality via a multitude of perspectives (McKinney, 2013). The shaper concludes by contending that writing center workers, and in particular, peer tutors, are well positioned to act as thought leaders regarding the future of writing with GenAI.

Reflecting on experiences with two Afghan students writing in response to events following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, this essay challenges traditional writing center practices in response to the evolving and urgent writing needs of diverse (international) student populations. Focusing on the intersectional identities of student writers and the geopolitical realities they face, we develop further the call to transform writing centers into “brave spaces.” Deploying this framework of bravery, we call for a reevaluation of the concept of “better writers,” of empathy constructed primarily through peerness, and of the current conceptualization of nationality in writing center scholarship. Writing centers as a discipline must reconceptualize these constructs of our theory and practice if they are to become brave(r) spaces that support students as they fight for social justice and survival.