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“They scold the girls so much, they start crying and then they get scolded more.” A boy in Anoma’s batch tried to stop it by trying to get in touch with his parents as he didn’t want to go through ragging but he was caught and ostracised. His batchmates have been instructed not to even sit near him until the rag season is over. Undergrads fear the ‘drastic repurcussions’ threatened by raggers. In the Kelaniya University, the situation is the same. After a three-week orientation program conducted by the university authorities, ragging began when senior students returned to campus after the semester break. Freshers were given a lecture and told what the ‘dress code’ should be - office attire for men, skirt and blouse with collar for women - with a safety pin pinned above the top button of the blouse. There is in fact no such official dress code for universities, yet the authorities in the university seem to turn a blind eye to this apparent abuse of power by student unions. In Kelaniya, all new undergrads have to gather near the ‘thelbamma’ each morning for ‘lectures on campus subculture’, the procedure is similar to the Colombo University’s ‘Table sessions’. “I was scared to come to the university because of ragging. Even now, every morning when I walk to the university I am tense, I don’t know what the day has in store for us,” said Kalani. UnionsStudent unions play the most crucial role in driving and perpetuating ragging. For Aruna Kithsiri, President of the Student Union at the University of Colombo, the start of a new academic year is a busy time. Together with fellow union members he is preparing the ‘orientation’ program for freshers. “Outsiders call it ragging but we do not rag. We have orientation for freshers. The union speaks on behalf of student problems and helps newcomers settle in,” said the final year student of Buddhist Studies. Kithsiri stressed that the union was against ragging and that their purpose was to preserve the free education system and train new students to fight for the cause. Historically, universities are places for free thinking and fresh ideas, but according to Kithsiri that’s not the case in the Colombo University’s Arts Faculty. “We cannot do what we want, we have to preserve and protect the university culture. We have a program and they stick to that, no one can act independently,” he said. The Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) condemns the idea that unions were fostering ragging. “We are against ragging, we are not saying that it is not happening at all but it is definitely less than before. We have asked students to complain to us of incidents but no one has done that,” said Lahiru Weerasekara, the IUSF convenor. According to him the IUSF advises each university union against ragging. The reality, however, is that ragging persists in various forms across all of the country’s state universities. A key factor in perpetuating the culture of ragging is student politics and the intensity of ragging at a particular university depends on which political ideology is followed by the student union in power.
Venuth Thilakarathna who is part of the anti-ragger group at the Colombo University said that union elections to be held in the faculty would soon determine which ideology wins, “Students these days want to stop ragging. If they vote for the student union which is against it, then ragging will stop,” he said. Some freshers more equal than othersContrary to the claim by unions that ragging helps achieve equality, students claim that ragging is dished out in varying degrees to students and the very purpose of ragging is in fact to establish the power of some students over others. “I am from Colombo so we don’t get ragged much, the ones from rural areas have it worse”, Anoma said. Fathima*, a second year student at the Peradeniya University claims that ragging also included an element of racial segregation. “They rag Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims separately, and where you come from matters. They want to maintain a certain kind of social hierarchy,” she said. “Muslims from the East dominate the raggers and they force you to wear the Abaya so I joined the anti-raggers,” added Fathima who identified herself as an anti-ragger. ‘Anti-raggers’ are those students who oppose ragging. In the Peradeniya University, even freshers can join the anti-raggers to avoid being ragged. While a strong student anti-ragging movement would appear to be a solution to the problem of ragging, the reality is that ‘anti ragging’ groups typically occupy only a marginal position in university campuses. Even at the Jayewardenepura University, the anti-ragging movement which was strong in the early 2000s has declined, following the murder of anti-ragging leader Samantha in 2001. For the most part, these groups have little power and are unable to interfere with the ragging that goes on. National politics also plays a part with the ragging season, serving as fertile ground to instil different ideologies in students. The unions run by some mainstream communist parties, use the universities to cultivate new members, explains head of Philosophy and Psychology, Dr. Danesh Karunanayake of the University of Peradeniya. Psychology of raggingThe Chairman of the University Grants Commission(UGC), Prof. Mohan De Silva admits that not much research has been done on the subject of ragging.
“We have several studies on sexual and gender-based violence at universities done but not about ragging alone”, he said. Prof. De Silva said researchers have also had a hard time getting quantitative research as not many want to talk about ragging, adding, that “most of the worst ragging is anyway sexual in nature”. Although, everyone starting from the Higher Education Ministry, the UGC and university lecturers talk about putting an end to ragging, no one seems to be willing to look at the root causes. “No one wants to speak about it. Most lecturers too have gone through the university system and they have been ragged and have ragged others. Thus many experience cognitive dissonance- you change your perspective after the incident and become positive about it, even though it was a negative experience at the time,” said De Silva. The phenomenon of ragging is a complex psychological issue said Dr. Karunanayake. It has elements of mob mentality, thirst for power, student politics and cognitive dissonance. “While many sub cultures exist in universities, fundamentally the system is created by force, it is a sub culture which is also violent and gender-based,” he said. Eighty percent of the Arts Faculty at Peradeniya are female but not one woman is a student leader. Many of the rituals enacted during ragging encourage men to fulfil masculine ‘macho’ roles and women to be traditional. In addition, to gender there is also a class element with the majority of anti-raggers being urban, fluent in English and typically not reliant on hostels for accommodation. Administration versus unionsThe Vice Chancellor of the Peradeniya University, Upul Dissanayake believes the solution to the problem lies in, “correcting the mentality” of students so they don’t perpetuate ragging. “This year’s victim becomes next year’s ragger. The answer lies there and that should be stopped,” he said. In Peradeniya, each Faculty has a rag prevention committee, the proctoral system, a mentor system (one for every three students) and a counselling system, all designed to deal with ragging but with little success. The Dean of the Arts Faculty at Colombo, Dr Athula Ranasinghe was sympathetic to the idea of union members acting as intermediaries between the students and administration. However, he admitted that this also played a role in making students more dependent and the unions more powerful. “These days ragging is more mental than physical,” he said as a Student Union member walked up to him to get a form signed on behalf of another student. An external mechanismFormer President of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA), Prof. Nirmal Dewasiri, reiterated that there was no consensus amongst the academic community to tackle ragging, “The majority do not want to confront the students,” he said. Very few students discuss or complain of ragging although there is a mechanism to redress complaints and protection provided to those who speak up,” said Prof. Devasiri. This is due to scaremongering tactics employed by senior students, said Dr. Karunanayake “Lecturers don’t help much because they stay away,” he said. While outside intervention along the lines of the Indian Trust Fund (see box for details) has been suggested as a means to put an end to ragging, Prof. Devasiri is strongly opposed to outside intervention in universities. He believes that an external mechanism may eventually become a tool for politicians to pursue their own political advantage. However UGC, Chairman, Prof. Mohan De Silva was optimistic about the prospects of an external regulatory body. Dr. Ranasinghe too agreed that an independent authority to tackle ragging is a welcome suggestion. Although universities are supposed to be autonomous, he admits that the responsibility of protecting students who speak out is too much for university administrations. He also noted that an independent body would take the responsibility away from university authorities who could be under various pressures not to take action. “We expect universities to be independent enclaves but there are the laws of the country which need to be followed. If we cannot follow things on our own, our other alternatives are police and courts. An independent authority can follow through a complaint and finish the matter,” said Dr. Ranasinghe. Prof De Silva said, “It is pessimistic to believe that ragging cannot be stopped, I believe it can be done.” *Names have been changed to protect their identity.
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Perpetuating university ragging 
