This essay offers a history of a basic writing course that began at a public ivy campus in the 1970s. Relying on principles of universal design and on insights derived from his school's studio program about ways the institution's selective functions can impact curricular matters, the author describes how the basic writing course was merely retrofitted to an English Department's goals, rather than integrated into is mainstream business. In turn, the author suggests that historical studies such as this can help basic writing teachers excavate and reinvigorate democratic reform efforts often backgrounded in light of a school's elite reputation. (Contains 14 notes.)