The Faculty Boards Institute Board and Senate of the Colombo University will meet this week in special session to consider the suspension of nine students conquest to a violent student demonstration on November 29, 2001.

They will express their views to the council which will take a final decision on the matter.

The council at its meeting on February 13 recommended closure of the Law Faculty until further notice if it becomes impossible to conduct academic activities in this environment.

The Vice Chancellor on the recommendation of the council and the Deans Committee decided to close the Law Faculty from February 15, 2002 until further notice.

The Vice Chancellor of the Colombo University Prof. Savithri Goonesekere said: "On 29.11.01 certain violent incidents and acts of criminal intimidation, unlawful restraint and damage to property took place at College House in the University of Colombo consequent to a student demonstration. A full report of the incident was sent at that time to the relevant authorities and the media. Following the incident several students who were identified by staff for acts of intimidation and unlawful behaviour were suspended pending the disciplinary inquiry on this matter as provided for under the university’s by laws on discipline. Eight of the nine suspended students were students of the Faculty of Law.

Consequent to a decision of the Senate of the University, the staff of the Faculty of Law conducted a dialogue with students in regard to serious breach of discipline and criminal conduct and thereafter recommended the reopening of the faculty on 24.01.2002. However the students commenced a boycott of lectures. Students who wish to attend lectures have been intimidated and prevented from attending classes. Last week, two senior lecturers who had been outspoken on the issues were targets of acts of intimidation. The offices of these staff were strewn with faecal matter and urine.

The Disciplinary Committee chaired by a Senior Professor and appointed to inquire into such incident submitted their report to the Vice Chancellor on 12.02.2002. The report was considered by the Deans Committee and the Council of the University of Colombo which met on 13.02.2002. The Council and the Deans Committee unanimously decided to adopt the report. Though the by laws provided for expulsion in some cases, the committee had emphasized the need to balance deterrent punishment with rehabilitation and reintegration into the academic community. They had therefore recommended a punishment of 2 years suspension in one case and one year suspension on the other cases, subject to appeals and remission of the period and mandatory counselling. This is the usual procedure adopted in the University of Colombo under current by-laws on discipline.

All the six faculties of the University including the Faculty of Law and the Senate have fully endorsed in separate statements the importance of taking disciplinary action in regard to these violent incidents of 29.11.2001 in the interests of the whole university. The Faculty of Law teachers have referred their position and views have also been reported to the Council.

The Vice-Chancellor Professor Savitri Goonesekere did not chair the meetings of Council and the Deans Committee when the disciplinary committee report was adopted since she was also the subject of the acts of criminals intimidation on 29/11/2001. Academic and administrative officers who gave evidence at the inquiry did not also take part in the proceedings of the Council. The decisions on discipline have been taken in conformity with procedures and by the Council and appropriate bodies and they are not personal decisions of the Vice-Chancellor.

The Council decisions on the report were conveyed to student representatives on 14.02.2002. Continuous and ongoing efforts at counselling and mediation throughout this period have failed and the student representatives have informed the Vice-Chancellor and the Dean that the suspended students and several others will go on a fast unto death until the suspension orders are removed. They have also threatened that if this efforts is prevented a student will commit suicide in front of the premises at College House. We were informed that the suspended students would hold the Vice-Chancellor, Dean and several lecturers accountable for a students suicide. Threatening and defamatory posters against the Dean and the Vice-Chancellor and other staff and students who were attending lectures have also appeared on the street and in the faculty.

On Friday 15.02.02 the Committee of Deans of Faculties meeting in my office at College House was informed that two of the suspended students had climbed the flat roof of a building in the Faculty of Law and threatened to take their lives by consuming poison unless the suspension was withdrawn.

I immediately put in place the arrangements I had made to cope with such a crisis. The Police, law teachers, Student Counsellors and the Professor of Psychiatry were at the scene immediately. The police officials assured me that they could handle the crisis with our staff, and I conveyed this information to my colleagues at the meeting.

Almost immediately I was told that the students representatives were downstairs demanding a removal of the suspension.

I consulted with my colleagues, since we were all ex-officio members of the University Council and neither the Vice-Chancellor nor they could unilaterally change a Council decision. At this intensely intimidating moment the Vice-Chancellor, Deans and Rector collectively decided to respond in the following manner. I was to inform the students that the suspension letters would be withheld pending a decision of the Council, since we had no authority to take a unilateral decision. I clearly indicated to the gathered students whom I addressed, that under duress and criminal intimidation of a suicide threat, we were recommending withdrawal of the suspension.

I clearly indicated to students that they should be fully aware as law students of the implications of consenting under duress and the Council was the final authority. I also clarified in answer to their question whether classes would commence next week for all students including those suspended, that I could take no decision on this matter until the council held a special meeting I was moved when I addressed the students for almost 10 minutes. It grieved me that our sustained mediation efforts to resolve this conflict had failed because of the willingness of the law students to use extra legal measures and engage in acts of criminal intimidation. In almost forty years of teaching, I had never witnessed this conduct and I stated among other things that their behaviour had disgraced the University of Colombo and the Law Faculty and its public image, and would have grave implications for the free education system in this country which I have always cherished.

The Faculty Boards, Institute Board and Senate will meet this week in special sessions to consider the suspension and express their views to the Council which will take the final decision on this matter. Such meetings are essential since the current situation has serious implications for the conduct of academic activities in the University of Colombo in all seven faculties and in 4 institutes and in the Sri Palee Campus.

In conclusion I wish to clarify some matters. The valuable glass panes at College House were not broken accidentally as students claim. These were deliberate acts of vandalism. The Vice-Chancellor, Dean and other staff were eyewitnesses to one such act. The former Dean Science rushed to prevent students from breaking one of the doors. The glass shattered and barely missed both of us. It was later reported to me officially that the Health Centre had treated several law students, whom they could not identify, for injuries from shattered glass.

The university has also never proposed charging Rs. 75/- a day for hostel accommodation during vacations. Law students and others have been requested to pay Rs. 75/- for three weeks or Rs. 25/- a week for hostel accommodation which is not offered normally during vacations unless there is a special academic programme. This matter was referred to at the meeting of the Student Welfare. Support Committee attended by Law Faculty and other faculty student representatives on 28/11 the day before the incident. Any confusion in this regard could have been easily clarified at the Student Counsellors office. Sadly the student leaders of the Faculty of Law continue to provide incorrect information to the media, not merely to justify their acts of criminal intimidation and violence, but in a complete failure to be accountable for their indiscipline and dangerous conduct on 29/11.01 and today 15.02.2002.

The Council at its meeting of 13.02.2002 recommended closure of the Faculty of Law until further notice if it becomes impossible to conduct academic activities in this environment. The Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the Council and the Deans Committee has therefore decided to close the Faculty of Law from 15.02.2002 until further notice. The faculty and the hostels are out of bounds to law students until further notice.

I seek the co-operation and support of the public, parents, students and the academic community in implementation of the decisions of the council, which is the governing body of the university. The council has taken its decisions on a report submitted by the Disciplinary Committee in respect of grave acts of criminal intimidation, unlawful restraint and abuse. It has taken action in other cases of indiscipline and students have never resorted to a similar course of intimidation. It is unfortunate that law students who are the beneficiaries of state education and will be future lawyers and judges of this country have resorted to extra legal means and shown such contempt for the rule of law and norms of civilized conduct expected of them. The University of Colombo has had a record of peace and stability for several years. It is our collective view that the future of the University and indeed the national university system in Sri Lanka can be damaged irrevocably when students seek to override considered decisions of the council by resorting to violence and intimidation."