For more than two decades the California State University (CSU) has been trying unsuccessfully to "reduce the need for remediation" on its campuses, primarily through initiatives aimed at high schools. This article examines a basic writing reform project, San Francisco State's Integrated Reading/Writing Program, in the context of the CSU's history of remediation. The success of this project, in light of the CSU's remedial past, provides the grounds to advocate for higher education as the appropriate location for basic writing and reading and to advocate, in turn, for the resources necessary to theorize, develop and sustain a rich variety of approaches to basic writing instruction. The analysis in this article also suggests the need for more graduate programs and faculty development initiatives to help prepare a new generation of basic writing teachers and scholars to meet the needs of the next new generation of basic writing students. (Contains 5 tables and 7 notes.)