When the University of Peradeniya was inaugurated, Sir Ivor Jennings wished it would be more open than closed. But, the opposite of his wish has come true. Peradeniya remains more closed than open. Worse, it was only the other day that a gang of hooligans in the garb of undergraduates who are a disgrace to that legendary seat of higher learning tried to prevent a newly built university hostel being named after Sir Ivor!

The university has been closed once again following a mini battle among some holier-than-thou members of the JVP-led student union representing the faculties of Engineering and Science. Those undergrads immersed in utopian shibboleths were well oiled at a bash on Sunday when their bestial traits and the bottle got the better of them. They set upon themselves like barbarians turning the university into a battlefield.

An occasional shindig where students heat their undergraduate livers and kick up a shindy is something common in universities. One cannot be so puritanical as to deny them the right to engage in some merry making in their university days. They should enjoy their youth to the fullest, indulging as they do in some ‘extra curricular’ activities like ‘picking flowers’, especially at the Peradeniya Campus known for its much coveted Lovers’ Lane. It was Marvell who said:

But, all that they do must be within the confines of law. And they must be told in no uncertain terms that the sky is not the limit and that they must stop short of being a public nuisance, especially those who pontificate to others on proper conduct. If they break the common law as the student union activists did on Sunday, they must be dealt with severely.

Closing a university, as we have been saying in these columns umpteen times, is not the solution to the problem of campus violence. That remedy is worse than the malady! For, that exactly is what campus trouble makers want! University closure contributes to student unrest, which powers the ultra-radical political projects of the student unions. Closure may also be a blessing for those NGO dons doing private consultancies.

The closure at issue has affected about 14,000 students in eight faculties at Peradeniya. All of them save a handful of hooligans are desirous of pursuing their studies peacefully and entering the job market as soon as possible. Why should those children be penalised for no fault of theirs? Behind each student is a family looking forward to his or her graduation. Most parents are living in abject poverty eagerly waiting till their children pass out and find employment to redeem mortgaged houses and paddies.

Universities account for a massive chunk of the state expenditure. It takes nearly five million rupees a day to maintain the Peradeniya University, which has an academic staff of over 1,000 and a non-academic staff numbering 3,500. Last year, the government spent Rs. 1.6 billion on the university and the projected expenditure for the current year is Rs. 1.8 billion. This is mostly derived from the hard earned money of the low and fixed income groups who pay indirect taxes. It is nothing but a crime to keep such an institution closed!

What the university authorities should have done on Sunday/Monday was to call the police and let them bring the situation under control, regardless of the methods used. That is what the police are there for. The trouble makers should have been rounded up and locked up. The place where they must be kept is not a national university but a state pen. Bogambara is close to Pereadeniya, isn’t it? The university must be re-opened forthwith and the police allowed to tackle student thugs and their confederates. There is no reason why the Vice Chancellor should hesitate to suspend all of them immediately, hold an inquiry and expel them, if found guilty.

The JVP’s conduct in national politics is said to be exemplary since it made a come back in the early 1990s as a democratic force. Why can’t it rein in its undergraduate ruffians? What a hue and cry the JVP made when Minister Mervyn Silva stormed the Rupavahini Corporation a few weeks ago—quite rightly so! The JVP held Mervyn’s political bosses including President Mahinda Rajapaksa responsible for his conduct. All right thinking people had no difficulty in agreeing with Rathu Sahodarayas on condemning the government for not taking action against Mervyn. (He sat next to President Rajapaksa for a photo together with a group of veteran trade unionists who received presidential awards on Monday.) But, the JVP, too, has created hundreds of Mervyns in universities and they run amok frequently. Minister Silva at least got his ‘doctorate’ without disrupting universities but the JVP’s Mervyns are not only failing examinations because of their preoccupation with politics but also depriving others of an opportunity to graduate before they become too long in the tooth.

So, Rathu Sahodarayas must put their house in order before casting stones at others for protecting disruptive elements who are a threat to law and order.

It is reported that university student unions are planning to launch a house to house campaign to raise public awareness about what they term a move to do away with free education. The biggest threat to education emanates from the student thugs who are throttling universities. The best way to save free education is for students to make the best use of it and contribute to the national development. State schools have virtually ceased to be seats of learning. They seem to have outsourced teaching to private tuition classes, which have made a mockery of free education, which has been reduced to ‘free school attendance’. Children have to pay for education outside schools. Universities are also moving in the same direction.

When student union activists go before the people seeking their support to save free education, they had better wear helmets (gal thoppi) and running shoes. For, the irate public may be waiting to receive them with broom sticks and ekel brooms!