This symposium brings together a range of scholars to consider what economic forces have driven the development of independent writing programs, and how such programs are susceptible to economic conditions and pressures, perhaps even more so than neighboring disciplines in the humanities. It includes: (1) "Documents of Dissent: Hairston's "Breaking Our Bonds" in Context" (John Ruszkiewicz); (2) "Growing Despite Austerity: The Department of Rhetoric and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin" (Mark Garrett Longaker, Davida Charney, Diane Davis, and Alice Batt); (3) "Forging Independence and Innovation in the Midst of Financial Austerity: The Syracuse University Writing Program" (Lois Agnew and Eileen E. Schell); (4) "In Medias Res: Sustaining a Program in Writing Studies in the Context of Departmental Merger" (David Beard with Chongwon Park); (5) "New Department, Familiar Problems: The Composition Requirement as Rationale for Independence" (Frank Gaughan); (6) "Tap Root: University of Pennsylvania's IWP and the Financial Crisis of 2008" (Valerie Ross, Patrick Wehner, and Rodger LeGrand); AND (7) "Independent Writing Programs Post Recession: Complexities and Discontents in an Achieved Utopia" (Chris Thaiss and Carl Whithaus).