UPDATE again, MAR 26, 2017 — Now I am an alumnus of UVic and have joined a top research university as a Post-doctoral research fellow. Although my career is on the right track, my concern and worry about Dr. Pan and UVic grow rather than fade, and I hereby call for more support. After Dr. Pan's suspension was ended on Nov. 4, 2016, the adversities on him and us do not stop. Dr. Pan was falsely accused by the department administrator again and has to use all his spare time to fight against the rumors and the academic mobbing, which not only ruins his life, but also seriously affects us, his past and current students, both physically and mentally. I urge UVic admin to conduct a fair and rigorous investigation on Dr. Pan's suspension, as well as the false accusations on him. Being an alumnus, I am deeply concerned about the reputation and image of UVic, and hope that dedicated teachers and researchers such as Dr. Pan can be respected rather than tortured there.

UPDATES: The University has replied with two letters to the petition with contradicting and non-factual information, which raised more questions than answers. See the Update Section at the bottom for details.

My name is Fei Tong. I am a 5th-year PhD Candidate in PanLab of the Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria (UVic), under the supervision of Dr. Jianping Pan. I am representing the current PanLab students to call for your support to Dr. Pan and PanLab students.

Professor Jianping Pan from the Computer Science Department at UVic is a dedicated researcher and teacher in computer networks. However, in the Fall 2016 term, he was assigned to teach a third year undergraduate course, Numerical analysis, totally out of his area. Meanwhile, another instructor who has taught it twice in Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 and will teach it again in Spring 2017, was assigned to teach a new course, Data structure and algorithm II, which can be comfortably taught by Dr. Pan, as Dr. Pan has taught the courses before and after it. Same as anyone who truly cares the quality of teaching and student learning experience, Dr. Pan proposed to switch the teaching assignments. The CS Department Chair declined the proposal, and even refused a meeting with them.

During the 1st lecture of Numerical analysis, Dr. Pan introduced the course outlines, topics, objectives, learning outcomes, his background and expertise, and his plan to teach the course. Students asked why not switch courses with the other instructor. Dr. Pan said that's what he and the other instructor proposed but rejected by the CS department chair, as he cannot lie to students when being asked. When a student asked who they should contact (email address or otherwise) to voice their opinion to the department, Dr. Pan wrote the chair's email on the board.

Right before the 2nd lecture on Sep. 09, 2016, the Associate Dean Research announced to the class that the 2nd lecture was cancelled, and the course will resume in the following week with the other instructor. Caring about the students whose class has been unfortunately cancelled, Dr. Pan offered them an optional tutorial on Matlab (a useful software for engineering students) in the unoccupied room. From the video taken by the students, they appreciated the free tutorial. But the Associate Dean Research and other admin kept interrupting the ongoing tutorial and intimidating the attendees, and finally even called the campus security and police to escort Dr. Pan off campus.

The adversity on Dr. Pan and his students did not stop here. Dr. Pan further received a discipline of suspension without pay, banning him from all students' interaction, research and services, due to the above mentioned undergrad teaching issue that was poorly planned, handled and overreacted by the Department Chair and the Associate Dean Research. This sudden suspension imposes huge impact on the graduate students supervised by Dr. Pan, and their research and program progress. Some students' PhD thesis defence and PhD candidacy exam scheduled long ago were threatened by possible cancellation. All of his students became the victims of this unfair punishment. They are frustrated by not only being deprived of the rights to receive the help from their supervisor to meet various deadlines for paper submission, revision, and thesis writing, but also the unjustified treatment on a professor who truly cares students and teaching quality.

We, all of the students and visitors supervised or hosted by Dr. Pan, ask for your support in lifting the unjustified suspension on Dr. Pan immediately, so he can return campus to help his students. With your help, together, we can rebuild the confidence on UVic as an institution committed to teaching, learning, and the highest standards of academic excellence to ensure student success, and as a place mentoring students and empowering the community about ethics, justice, compassion and integrity. With your support, we can ensure that the beautiful British Columbia in Canada is a place protecting and promoting democracy and human rights.

Update:

On Oct. 28, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering broadcasted a letter prepared by Associate VP Faculty Relations and Academic Administration (Letter A) to all Engineering faculty members and graduate students. On Nov. 1, the Provost responded the petition to the PanLab students and visitors with another letter (Letter B). However, the two letters contain contradicting and non-factual information, which raised more questions than answers.

1) Letter A was broadcasted to all faculty members and graduate students, while Letter B says “Under our protection of privacy laws in British Columbia, we cannot release personal information of an employee.”

Reply: If the University cannot release personal information of an employee as mentioned in Letter B, why Letter A was broadcasted to all faculty members and graduate students through emailing lists without the consent of all the parties affected?

 2) Letter A says “Prior to the suspension being imposed, university staff met with the Dean of Graduate Studies to put in place a plan to ensure that Dr. Pan’s graduate students were not disadvantaged.” Letter B says “Faculty members are often absent from the university for periods of time similar in length to the suspension for holidays or research. There is no reason to be concerned about this absence which, in any event, ends on November 4.”

Reply: Letter A's statement is non-factual. Not until ten days after the suspension, on Oct. 16, the Dean of Graduate Studies shocked us that our supervisor had been suspended without pay, and banned from all students' interaction, research and services. Furthermore, a PhD candidacy exam and a PhD oral defense scheduled on Oct. 20 and Oct. 31, respectively, had to be rearranged.  In the afternoon of Oct. 19 (half day before the scheduled candidacy exam), the Dean further notified us that both exams were cancelled and would be rescheduled to a later date, leaving us to worry about the expiring study permit, job interviews, long-distance trips and family reunions affected by the sudden changes.  Ironically, we, the desperate students, failed to find a solution through all channels within the University, but were saved by a lawyer who restored both exams in the evening of the same day, a few hours before the most stressful exam for a PhD student.

From Letter B's comment of “no reason to be concerned”, it is very sad that the tremendous negative impact on us both physically and mentally by the sudden suspension was totally ignored.  When responsible professors like Dr. Pan plan to be away, important deadlines and exams will be planned and scheduled beforehand, and students can still reach them by email, phone, etc. If needed, an acting supervisor will be appointed. For the sudden suspension, the University essentially deprived us the right to continue our work with our supervisor for the whole duration of suspension (even though we had paid full tuition, and we all wanted to get the best out from our time, efforts, and tuitions paid here), and no acting supervisor was appointed or discussed.

Furthermore, a suspension is the most severe discipline on professors “of gross misconduct or are such that the mental or physical health or safety of other members of the University community are at risk”. Even though Dr. Pan was assigned to teach Numerical analysis which is totally out of his expertise, he has delivered the lecture well. During the class, he acknowledged the fact that he is not the best to teach it, but he also said that he will try his best to teach them. We simply cannot imagine how our supervisor, a well-respected researcher and teacher, can be attributed to gross misconduct or put the mental or physical health or safety of other members at risk. We are seriously concerned about his suspension, which puts his and our mental and health at risk.

3) Letter A says “An online petition calling for lifting the suspension contains a number of inaccurate statements and does not reflect what occurred.” Letter B says “With respect to the information contained in the petition, much of it presents an inaccurate version of events.” and “We do not know the source of the information that was used to write the petition. However, it would appear from the statements in the petition that its author did not inquire carefully into the circumstances. Had you met in person with your Chair or with others available to address your concerns, we believe you would have received a more balanced understanding of the situation.”

Comments: Our statements are based on the feedback from the students in that classroom, including the video the students took and their discussions at reddit.com. If the petition was found not accurate, please point out the inaccurate parts. If the Chair or others have more information to correct our statements, please have them share the information with all of us in writing.

Given the many questions remaining unanswered and issues unsolved and the serious concerns on the unjustified suspension, we request a fair and rigorous investigation on it with due process.  Students and faculty need safe, just, supportive, inclusive and healthy environments that foster mutual respect and civility. This is the only path to ensure student success.