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Sac State Student Pushes To Keep Professor On Campus

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — An assistant arts teacher at Sacramento State is expected to be let go next spring, but one of his students is pushing to prevent that.

"I think he's a good teacher," senior Cat Xia said. "He is supportive of his students; he does care a lot. I don't want to see Evri go."

But apparently Evri Kwong's days on campus are numbered.

After more than six years of teaching, Kwong says he has learned he will not be given tenure and will be terminated from Sac State come spring 2012.

"I personally think something weird is going on, and I don't like that," Cat said.

So she decided to do something to try and help. Along with her homework, Cat has taken to cyberspace to try to keep Kwong employed, creating a Facebook page titled "Give Evri Kwong Tenure" and a matching online petition.

"My ultimate dream for this is I guess it would save his job and somehow change the minds of the people in the department," she said.

Dozens in the small arts department have already liked the page and signed the petition.

Kwong himself released a statement to CBS 13 about the effort. While he says he doesn't know why he's being let go, he said, "I am deeply touched. It's a wonderful indication that the students want me to continue my work at Sac State. I hope to stay."

And Cat hopes administrators get the message.

"They'd be like 'hey they actually care about this professor and so maybe we should give him tenure,'" she said of the hoped-for outcome.

Sac State wouldn't comment on Kwong's status, saying it's a personnel issue.

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