Crisis at South Eastern University intensifies

COLOMBO (News 1^st) - An administration issue at the South Eastern University escalated to a point where it led to a debate in Parliament on Tuesday (July 17). Yesterday (July 16) a group of employees armed with poles entered the dormitory of the Faculty of Technology of the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka in search of students who have been barred from attending classes. The disciplinary officer of the South Eastern University, a senior student counselor, Administrative Security Officers and Private Security Officers had entered the dorms accompanied with the warden. A tense situation occurred, amateur footage shows how the students and the administrative officers and security guards reacted to each other. Speaking to the media, Chairman of the Student Activist Committee of the South East University, Gihan Weerasekara accused the administration of using intimidation tactics to scare away students from the University. He noted that 17 students were barred from attending classes while 4 others had their scholarships taken away as they attended a meeting organised by the Students Union. Lahiru Weerasekera, Convenor of the Inter-University Students Federation believes that the administration is attempting to crackdown on a satyagraha campaign which has been going on for over 220 days. Weerasekara also questioned why authorities are cracking down on students instead of searching for those who stole from the mahapola scholarship fund and the University Grants Commission According to the President of the Federation of University Teachers Associations, Dr. K.K.I.U Anura Kumara, this is not an isolated incident. He noted that there seems to be a conspiracy to create discord among students and the university administration in order to bring down the universities rather than uplift them. According to the Senior Administrate Registrar of the South Eastern University since the 14th of July 21 students have been banned from attending classes over a ragging incident. Since there is no vice-chancellor for the university, Professor Uma Kumaraswamy has been appointed as the competent authority. However, she refused to comment on the incident.