Jaffna Uni Teachers Up In Arms: Governor Chandrasiri And Douglas Not To Be Seen
January 13, 2015
Jaffna academics are up in arms after the Vice Chancellor Vasanthi Arasaratnam tried to force them to sign a statement in favor of re-electing Mahinda Rajapaksa and sending out tweets to the same effect on election-day. A public meeting is being organized by them tomorrow13 Jan., 2015 at 11:00 AM to express anger over the VC repeatedly ignoring their protests over highly qualified academics being turned down to appoint her favourites.
Devananda: Lording it at University of Jaffna | File photo
The Governor, Major General G. A. Chandrasiri, has been replaced by civilian H.M.G.S. Palihakkara of the LLRC. Douglas Devananda has closed his Sridhar Theatre offices where people once used to stand in queues for favors. The only sign of him is his newspaper Thinamurasu which is still coming out.
Said a very senior academic: “The governor is gone. Douglas is gone. Why is the VC still hanging on?”
The academics’ letter itself says that so many academics signing it “makes it absolutely clear that a sizeable section of the academic community was prepared to risk signing a public document expressing serious misgivings about the effect of abusive recruitment practices on the future of the University and the maintenance of standards.”
Warned another academic that just like the riff-raff who supported Mahinda Rajapaksa are now jumping on to the Sirisena bandwagon, Arasaratnam is trying to cling on to power through her lackeys offering their services to a TNA politician. Her point men making overtures to the TNA are the Rector of Vavuniya Campus and the Dean of Graduate Studies who once worked for the LTTE, then for Douglas and now are trying to be TNA advisers.
