Request For Signing Continuing Employment Contract With Dr. John Prince

Dear Dr. Dawood Farahi,

     The whole WKU student body calls on signing continuing employment contract with Dr. John Prince, a senior lecturer in law and philosophy at WKU. Approaching the expiration of the current contract, Dr. Prince has been terminated. WKU students have been always concerned about the high turnover rate of professors. And at this time, as an integrated part of WKU spirit, Dr. Prince’s presence at WKU is closely bound to the current development of WKU, and WKU cannot afford his leaving. Dr. Prince excellence in teaching and researching, congenial personality, and contribution to school management, as we believe, are critical resources within the university community.

     The high turnover rate of faculty makes students anxious about their future at WKU. Students have spent too much time and energy fighting for the stay of adequate professors. Long-term academic projects between professors and students cannot be carried out because of professors’ frequent departures. All students at WKU are jealous of students from Department of Computer Science because we seldom have the chance to work with our professors, unlike Yongfu Wang, a CS graduate who entered Northwestern University because of his conscientiousness and long-term cooperation with Dr. Tiffany Tang on publishing academic papers concerning human interaction and helping autistic children in China with advanced technology. Education is a long-term project, which needs sustainable intellectual resources — professors who innovate the delivery of teaching and discipline and contribute significantly to the education quality of WKU.

     Academic talents who have expertise in law and want to teach in China are hard to be found. As a professor fully familiar with WKU and the learning habits of Chinese students, Dr. Prince has been teaching at WKU for more than three years and achieved very high acclaims from the majority of students. We cannot easily give up this good professor.

     Dr. Prince, graduated from Duke University with a Juris Doctor degree and had practiced the law in a law firm with partnership for many years, applies theories and practices of business law in classes. He makes the law come alive and explain every legal issue with detailed logical reasoning. He motivated us to associate real cases with moral codes and actively seek legitimate solutions. Many of us believe that his interpretation of the ethics and justice is comparable to the many open classes provided by prestigious universities. Moreover, as the advisor of Debating Society, Dr. Prince, accompanied young debaters to enter the regional, and finally, national British Parliamentary debate competition, analyzed motions for debaters, introduced debate-training resources to students, and led students onto the path of becoming deep thinkers. Without him, these accomplishments would have been impossible. Therefore, it is understandable that we, the Chinese students at WKU, want him to stay.

     Having taken his class or not, we all love Dr. Prince from the bottom of our hearts. It is not only his crystal clear instruction on business law or erudite knowledge in philosophy, but also his personal charisma, especially his accessibility to every student that makes us proud of being his students. With whole-heartedness, he has helped every student who needs academic or daily help. His mere presence shows how the life can be to all students at WKU. With his inspiration and recommendations, many students of Class 2016 and 2017 successfully entered the most prestigious colleges in the world and are chasing their dreams, because Dr. Prince and many other professors made them aware that they can do it. Many of them will turn out to become social workers, lawyers, journalists, and entrepreneurs upon graduation. Just being himself, he is able to make us aware of how to be a good person: his behaviors manifest his adherence to compassion. We, the Chinese students have rarely seen a teacher like Dr. Prince buying huge boxes of cookies for cleaners, staff, and students at the end of every final week; it is the first time that we, the Chinese students have seen a foreign man strictly adhering to his Buddhist practices and dedicate himself to help everyone around him: we, the Chinese students have seldom heard that a man can donate most of his salary to charity and leaves himself with only 500 USD every month. He implicitly and explicitly passes an idea to us that every person deserves respect and care and can receive what they deserve as long as they work hard towards it.

     In addition to listening to students’ voices, Dr. Prince also helps other professors with full efforts to adapt to the new life in China. And he is also able to contribute to the management and leadership of WKU Business School. He understands Chinese students very well, and is able to help school staff and professors design proper courses and schedules for students. Our university community needs him.

     Since Dr. Prince, the man we all love, is critical to students, the faculty group, and our university community, we have voluntarily signed our names to express our concerns, wishes, and determinations to make WKU become successful at present and in the future. Thank you for spending time in your busy days reading this long petition. We request you, dear Dr. Farahi, to let Dr. Prince stay. We truly believe that he is the right one who can make difference to WKU.

     Thank you again, Dr. Farahi. We are looking for good news.


Sincerely,

Wenzhou-Kean University Students