We are a group of graduate students of Josai International University (Tokyo, Japan) affiliated to the Graduate School of Humanities, scheduled to submit our doctoral dissertations during this academic year and our thesis advisor has been Dr. Noriko Mizuta ever since we entered this university.

To our surprise, on April 3rd, 2017, as the new academic year started, the University (Josai International University) sent a notification to Dr. Mizuta to stop teaching, resulting us to lose our long-time teacher and thesis advisor. However, the University neglected to notify us immediately about this sudden change, resulting us to be left in an emergency without our thesis advisor just when we are reaching the stage of dissertation completion. The University suggested to change our thesis advisor, without any concrete plans of support for us, repeating their vague generalities of support provisions to this day. This means that we are left without our thesis advisor, or rather we are left suspended and deprived of any formal guidance provided by the University.

On one hand, we can never think of any other thesis advisor than Dr. Mizuta since doctoral theses guidance should require highly specialized academic qualification, and therefore, we made our decision to enter this university seeking specific academic guidance by Dr. Noriko Mizuta. Therefore, this sudden suggestion by the University to change the thesis advisor at this point of time means interference, disturbance, and moreover devaluation of our doctoral dissertations. So, we protest against this change of dissertation advisor by the University at the final stage of completion, repeatedly appealing to the University to continue to provide the thesis guidance by Dr. Mizuta, to which the University has consistently rejected us.

On the other hand, Dr. Mizuta has consistently played the leading role in Japan and beyond in the field of Comparative Gender Studies, Women’s Studies, and Feminism Criticism. We came to this university from afar and near, not only in Japan, but from abroad, to seek academic guidance by Dr. Noriko Mizuta. All of us here, have had past long and difficult history as individuals wandering and searching life journey with our research theme, and finally found our teacher Dr. Mizuta, under whose commitment in teaching, excellent academic achievement, long-time teaching experience, and exceptional teaching ability, we at last could have found the way to writing the actual dissertation writing.

We want you to understand how Dr. Mizuta taught us and provided enthusiastic guidance toward us. We want you to understand how we at last found our teacher in the person of Dr. 　Mizuta, for our life-long research theme. Together, we have discussed our research themes, many a times in trial-and-error, but some gratifying moments of “Eureka!”　We want you to understand our long-time mutual trust relationship in our learning processes. We all did this while as a working students trying to perform both job duties as well as our student life, sacrificing many sleeping hours, or performing our double duties for our ailing family members, overcoming physical difficulties, stopping our carrier path in order to concentrate in dissertation writing, thusly we have reached at our final completion stage. As a result, we have come to the final stage of submitting our dissertations within this academic year.

We would like you to see how devastating our situations are caused by such one-sided decision by the University to stop Dr. Mizuta to teach, continue to be our thesis advisor. Now, since we cannot submit our dissertations in June, 2017, some of our job path will be forever damaged, and that means our life as academic scholar will be choked to death. The impact is grave!

Still the University has not shown any sincerity toward our situations. Our time is running out!
We do not have time! To take up our thesis advisor, Dr. Mizuta, from us at this last stage of Dissertation-writing completion, therefore means nothing but an act of neglect, one type of academic harassment on the part of the University. We strongly protest against the University.

We urge you, we appeal you, to the members of WAN, know what is happening to us, Who are requesting your favor to extend your moral support. Thank you for your powerful moral support for us.

Please look into the following website.(Sorry, this site is still in Japanese only, but the contents are translated into English as above)
https://www.change.org/p/pemot2011-gmail-com-%E6%B0%B4%E7%94%B0%E5%85%88%E7%94%9F%E3%82%92%E7%A7%81%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A1%E3%81%AB%E5%B8%B0%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A0%E3%81%95%E3%81%84?recruiter=715125026&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink