Fees were paid, timetables made, then two weeks into the course they were told he had been sacked.
Dr Paul Buchanan's students will not stop fighting for his reinstatement - their degrees depend on it.
Ella Burton (21), an aspiring lawyer says her degree is now in jeopardy. Completing a double-major is stressful enough - there are averages that must be met. And now not only does she miss out on an inspirational lecturer, but also teaching time she has paid for.
Buchanan's replacement drives up from Hamilton so lecture times have had to change and there are half as many tutorials.
There are no office hours for extra assistance unless students are prepared to drive to Hamilton for it. But what infuriates them most is that the university knew about Buchanan's email debacle before the semester started.
``They took our money and then they fired him,' she says.
``For the sake of one international student, forty paying students loose out.'
Students like class delegate Richie Steward who is majoring in Latin American studies have lecture clashes.
He now has to choose whether he attends Spanish or Politics. And it is too late to change courses. Dropping the paper would result in an extra semester of study and more money, with no guarantee fees would be reimbursed.
``If the uni does not reinstate Paul or hire a Latin Americanist they have effectively removed the discipline from the university,' Richie says. ``It's a shame really because its a really vibrant and pertinent area of the world and of study.'
Richie is circulating a petition calling for the university to reinstate their lecturer. ``The university has over-reacted and has not considered current students in the process,' he says.
Most importantly, they say Buchanan is irreplaceable and his teaching surpasses any they have had before.
``He would sweat blood in lectures and he expected students to do the same,' says another politics student Sam Whiting.
Sam is passing around a petition and emailing the dean of political studies.
``If we screw around the university penalises us quite seriously; if they don't put the effort in we get a substandard course,' he says.
When asked whether they would consider reinstating Dr Buchanan in response to student's petition and emails, the University of Auckland's spokesperson would not comment saying it is an employment matter.
But to the fee payers, that is not good enough. ``We want him back,' Ella says. ``Tomorrow if possible.'
Our degrees are at risk - Uni students
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