Devananda is running Jaffna exactly the way the LTTE ran Jaffna says Prof Ratnajeevan Hoole

Although we may or may not agree with everything Hoole says here, it is food for thought, especially with regard to Douglas Devananda and his minions. Hoole blames neither the President nor the Sinhalas. He is not telling Tamils who want to return to Sri Lanka not to do so. Nevertheless he is unhappy with the prevailing situation in the North.  If this situation is allowed to further deteriorate it will undermine the efforts the government is making to build national unity and boost Sri Lanka's global image. By Namini WijedasaOn a personal assurance from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole, a former vice chancellor of the University of Jaffna, returned to Sri Lanka with his family to serve the country he so loved. His experience since coming back has been “horrible” and has left him sorely disappointed.

Q. How far back does your relationship with the University of Jaffna go?

A. The university was established in 1974 by taking over Parameshwara College and Jaffna College’s undergraduate division from where my great-great-grandfather graduated and was then Native Professor of Mathematics. My parents studied there in the 1930s. My siblings have taught or studied there.

Q. What are your ties with Jaffna and more broadly what is your affinity with Sri Lanka? A. I can trace one family line to when the Cholas established the Maviddapuram Kandasamy Temple and entrusted it to my family’s care. As a Christian family, we have ancestors that contributed widely through education, uplifting women, and caste emancipation by deliberately living in low caste areas which today are the most upscale. My grandfather established night schools in one of the most depressed areas against opposition from the Hindu Board. He cooked and ate with the students. Today, people from there are leaders in Jaffna. An ancestor, C. W. Thamotharampillai, is credited with discovering some of the oldest Tamil literature. Members of the family were pioneer Tamil and Engineering Department heads in the University of Ceylon. My parents worked all over South Ceylon. We are as much Sri Lankan as we are of Jaffna.

Q. What are your academic qualifications? A. I earned my BSc Eng. Degree from Katubedde, MSc in Engineering with a Mark of Distinction from London and doctorate from Carnegie Mellon. For my independent research, London awarded the higher doctorate, the DSc degree, which used to be the doctorate until the junior doctorate or PhD (which is a supervised degree) came to be called the doctorate because there were more junior doctors. Professionally, I am the only Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in Sri Lanka, a rank which is only by invitation.

Q. What made you leave Sri Lanka and what work did you do while abroad? A. I left Sri Lanka because standardization made higher education impossible for Tamils. My next brother, with two As, one C, and one S in 1974 got no admission. Tamil grade cut-off marks were raised. My father was dead and mother retired when I graduated. So starting with my eldest brother, Rajan, we had to leave to support siblings in Western universities. I did my PhD and my wife, hers. Bearing four children for me and despite being asked to withdraw at each pregnancy from chemistry labs, she finished her MS and Ph.D under a Nobel Laureate.

I am more proud of her achievement than I am of mine. By then, I was a tenured full professor at one of America’s elite colleges, Harvey Mudd College in California, which at the time had the undergraduate SAT cut-off score of 1390, second only to CalTech’s 1395. Being on the faculty brought many consulting opportunities with Aerojet Electrosytems on space stations, NASA’s Dryden Centre’s Space Shuttle, the Jet Propulsion Lab, Northrops’ Stealth Bomber Division and IBM in San Jose.

But Dushy was done with her studies, and my eldest had just turned 10. So we returned in 1995. We felt our children must experience our way of life. Colombo was not easy. My sister who was teaching at Jaffna University was arrested five times because of her Jaffna identity card and called it quits. Academics in power do not like independent others. In recruitment, they claim to advertise widely but always hire their own graduates. So being from Katubedde and not saying “Yes Sir, Yes Sir” to seniors, Peradeniya tried to fire us and succeeded with Dushyanthi. I escaped only because the Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance (CIMOGG) intervened and the Court of Appeal gave an order against Peradeniya. The Human Rights Commission, also at CIMOGG’s insistence, imposed a heavy fine on Peradeniya for what they did to Dushy.

Q. What happened in 2006? A. We were determined to stick it out. But in 2006, when I was made vice chancellor of Jaffna, the Tigers, behaving exactly like our senior academics, did not want someone who was independent and issued death threats. We had little choice but to flee.

Q. Where are you settled in Jaffna? Is your family with you? A. The first Hoole, a Temple Maniagar from Pointpedro, converted to Christianity in 1845, became Elijah Hoole and took up residence in Nallur. The house he built was damaged during the war but I have rebuilt it on the same foundations and am living in my great-great-grandfather’s house. A daughter working for CPA is with us. My son goes to my school, St. John’s, where generations of Hooles have studied and Elijah Hoole was native pastor. Two girls who finished high school here are in university abroad and will return.

Q. What made you return in 2010 and what were your ambitions for the university system? A.The war was over. The university was highly corrupt. Academics not in administration and students were having a rough time. Engineering promised to the people of Jaffna by the government was just not taking off because of poor leadership. I felt I could do something.

Also, when I was made VC Jaffna I was given three years’ leave from Peradeniya. As my leave was about to end I returned in December 2008 and reported. On that day, the department head received a letter backdated by two weeks claiming I had been vacated post. Peradeniya’s VC who was angry over my confirmation ordered by the Court of Appeal did this to me. And he is now on the University Grants Commission despite being given a prison sentence or alternative fine for misusing university property. I wanted to straighten my record.

Q. Is it true that President Mahinda Rajapaksa gave you a personal assurance in this regard? A.Yes. He promised Carlo Fonseka and issued orders as soon as we came that we should both be reinstated at Peradeniya and transferred to Jaffna. He based this directive on University Services Appeals Board and Human Rights Commission orders.

After I made it to the list of three in the VC election, in mid-December about three days before the then VC’s term was to expire, my wife and I were invited to Temple Trees where we had tea with the president who delayed the weekly Cabinet meeting to speak to us and exchange pleasantries. We left with the assurance that my letter of appointment as VC would leave the Presidential Secretariat the next morning.

Q. When did you start your campaign for the post of VC? A. There was not much of a campaign. Almost all engineers from the Institution of Engineers (North) nominated me and I spoke to council members only after the advertisement came out at the end of September. It went on till mid-December when I was assured the post.

Q. What has been your wife’s experience? A.Horrible. A professor in the US, she has been unemployed since September. I feel terrible that it is all revolving around me and my job. She is forgiving and forbearing and I thank God for that. A lesser woman might have left me for making her quit her job to come here and be insulted as if she is begging for a job she does not deserve.

Q. What lessons could the government learn from what has happened to you, particularly in view of President Rajapaksa encouraging professionals and academics to return to serve the country? A. I think President Rajapaksa meant well by me and intended to keep his promise. But as president he cannot afford to allow his directive on our appointments to be ignored nor can he simply ignore a promise he made just because of Douglas Devananda’s objections.

Devananda is running Jaffna exactly the way the Tigers ran Jaffna. The UGC has obligingly appointed 13 of Douglas’ nominees to the University’s Council of 25. He holds monthly “pre-Council meetings” before the real Council where university decisions are taken, including whom to vote in as VC.a contractor appointed to the Council does university hostels for some Rs. 300 million against the law.

Devananda’s minions get into many university jobs which are never advertised and cannot be disciplined once hired. People fear to complain after General Mahinda Hathurusinghe said that EPDP cadres are responsible for the recent robberies and murders.

Controlling the VC is important to him as you can see from the ongoing student union election playing out: a compliant VC with a three-year Indian degree and Jaffna PhD, obligated to Douglas for her appointment, took an old complaint against a TNA-leaning student about to be elected president and within a few hours found him guilty and declared the university out of bounds for him. Devananda saw me as independent. So he raised anti-Christian phobia telling the president that Hindus will be angered if I am appointed. I was then asked to get statements from prominent Hindus in support of me. Most Hindus wanted me and what he told the president is insulting to them.

Obviously the president lacks independent sources of information in Jaffna. To connect to the Tamils the president must dump Devananda and talk to real leaders who can be identified only by holding elections.

Q. What is your message to expatriates considering returning to Sri Lanka? A. To expatriates who think of returning, do not trust officialdom. Their speeches are for effect. For example, when authorities say they want to make Sri Lanka an education hub, would they promulgate a circular to hire incompetent hangers-on from ministry lists if they truly want excellent universities? But please do come. We need you but make sure you have your own connections to get in, especially if you are good.