Prof. Saumya Liyanage should be reinstated: Prof. Uyangoda

Ousted Prof. Saumya Liyanage should be reinstated to his position, political scientist and academic Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda said speaking at a press conference held yesterday at the Centre for Society and Religion.

The conference was organised by a collective of Sri Lankan academics to table their views on the ousting of academic and actor Prof. Saumya Liyanage from his post in the University of Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA).

Joining the conference via Zoom, Prof. Uyangoda said Prof. Liyanage was not at fault.

“The effective date of a particular degree is the day that the thesis relevant to the degree is submitted. Prof. Uyangoda said that it was a grave error made by the University Council and they needed to quickly rectify this.

“Prof. Liyanage submitted his doctoral thesis to La Trobe University in Australia prior to three months of the eight-year-period granted for a lecturer to complete post-graduate studies,” said Prof. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri of the University of Colombo.

According to Prof. Dewasiri, the removal of Prof. Liyanage from professorship and from his post as Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA) was an arbitrary decision made by the University Council of the UVPA.

Adding to her comments, Prof.Sumathy Sivamohan of the University of Peradeniya said the technicalities and rules especially pertaining to Prof. Liyanage’s removal, had been rigidly and wrongly applied.

According to Prof. Sivamohan this is due to the management being not run by an academic establishment but by a bureaucratic establishment.

Prof. Sivamohan said any committee investigating this case should study rules within a larger framework and should serve justice to Prof. Liyanage.

Dr. Prabha Manuratne, Senior lecturer Anuruddha Pradeep Karanasuriya and Prof. Harshana Rambukwella also chaired the press conference while Prof. Liyanage Amarakeerthi joined the conference via Zoom. (Nishantha Hewage)

Pix by Kithsiri De Mel