Letter to the editor

Political Science Department criticized for failure to retain professor John Evans

I am writing this letter today to say thank you to political science professor John Evans. For the past two years, Evans has been a valuable member of UW-River Falls. His passion for teaching and his unwavering commitment to his students is incredible. Evans always did a great job of providing a fair and balanced classroom environment. It is because of Evans that I am now a political science minor.

Unfortunately, because of a few bad decisions by the Political Science Department, Evans was not retained and is now leaving UWRF for Eau Claire. I hope that UWRF realizes that they have made a huge mistake by allowing a great professor to leave for another school.

I am not sure what is all behind the Political Science Department’s decision to let Evans go, but I do know that it could not be because of poor performance. Evans is the best professor that I have had here at UWRF, and I am just finishing up my junior year.

I have my own suspicions over why Evans was let go, and I can only hope that the truth will come out eventually. It always does. I know that I may face grade retaliation for making these comments, although I would like to think that something like grade retaliation would not happen here at UWRF.

I also want to tell all the students here that it is very important to stand up for good professors and lecturers. I, along with several other students, have been fighting for Evans since around November of 2011.

We as students rely on good quality professors and lecturers, and good professors and lecturers rely on us as students. We have the power here as students. After all, we pay to come here. If it weren’t for us, UWRF would not exist.

Lastly, I would like to thank Evans for his time here. It was an honor getting to know you and you will be missed by all of your students here at UWRF. Please don’t let the foolish decision by the Political Science Department change your views of your students here at UWRF. What they did was wrong, but you will always have your students here to support you. Thanks and best of luck at UW-Eau Claire.

Luke Affolter
Student