It is not every day that the laying off of a university bureaucrat generates a torrent of criticism from students, faculty, and alumni. But Jane Rosenzweig was not just any university bureaucrat, and she was not presiding over just any administrative fiefdom. The dismantling of Harvard University’s writing center, and the laying off of Rosenzweig, its director—both announced last month—has been met with outcry shading into outrage. It has produced a minor literature of student-newspaper coverage, disapproving social-media posts, and angry emails. An open letter from current and former writing-center tutors protesting the decision had more than 100 signatories. The passionate response is partly a testament to Rosenzweig herself, who was a beloved figure on campus. Among the flood of comments from former writing-center employees were a number that described her as the best boss they’d ever had. The backlash is also about what Rosenzweig represents: She has been a champion of human writing in the age of AI, through both her work at the center—where undergraduate students received coaching on how to revise and …