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| Sunday, 31 October 2004 |
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Profile : A man of many accomplishments by Arundathie Abeysinghe Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole, Professor of Electrical Engineering at Peradeniya University is a man of many accomplishments.
The holder of the DSc London degree - the Prof. has authored several books and articles in engineering. In the nature of a true academic, he has also authored seminal books and papers in the humanities and social sciences to match many an arts professor. When he was Professor of Engineering at Harvey Mudd College (of California's prestigious Claremont Colleges Consortium) which US News and World Report rates as "the No. 1 Engineering Specialty School in the US", the accreditation agencies faulted the College for its too Eurocentric curriculum and he was invited to put-together a course on South Asia. The College went by his writings and standing as an Expert Witness on Sri Lanka recognised by US Immigration Courts across the US to offer him the Adjunct Professorship in the Humanities and Social Sciences. His course covered such areas as the ethnic conflict, rewriting history, Asian Values, and refugees and immigration. He proudly says that he enjoyed teaching much more than his engineering classes. One student, impressed with the field trips to the Los Angeles Immigration Courts, visited Sri Lanka. So why did he come back, I queried. Turning serious he answered, "There you live for yourself. Here there is so much to do that I have no time. My children have a great time in their innocent world. They read widely enough to get sufficiently high SAT scores to go back on scholarship and get a good education. Only our working conditions are a little difficult for decent folk to survive. My wife alone has found the move hard after leaving behind a promising academic career under a Nobel Laureate. For Hoole, University reform is his singular agenda driven by and unbending will. For Universities have the best students and produce the highest officers of society so things must be done right there, he says. President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has placed him as the Tamil member of the University Grants Commission. At present he devotes much time to a new Act and professional promotion circulars. Manipulations Working with Senior Counsel Elmore Perera of the Citizens' Movement for Good Governance (CIMOGG), several cases have been filed dealing with university appointments. The system has not taken kindly to it. Hoole recently challenged a professorship promotion by giving documents to Peradeniya's Council. Said he, "The Council was unforgivingly angry over the exposure of their manipulations in appointing the Vice Chancellor. So instead of looking into these allegations, it immediately charged me with obtaining 'confidential documents.' Then they went to higher ups asking how I can be on the UGC with this serious charge against me. This betrayed the real reason for their charge-sheet. Now it is well past the 3-month limit for finishing the inquiry but they have not even begun. This is not unusual for Peradeniya. It once kept a poor Assistant Registrar under a charge for 2 years without inquiry and no one questioned that. Finally when the inquiry was held, all the charges were dismissed. Sadly, those in power are expected to uphold only those in power." Giving another example, he recounted how CIMOGG filed a case against a University for breaking UGC rules in promoting a close relative of someone in the office of the Attorney General (AG): "CIMOGG cited the UGC to get it to come forward and state if its rules had been flouted or not. The AG represented both the University and UGC, I saw a conflict of interest. For if the University had violated the UGC's rules, how could the AG say so as the UGC lawyer and still represent the University also ? The AG, publicly challenged, agreed in court and said he would represent only one party. The bench of the Court of Appeal who happened to be formerly of the AG's, strongly agreed, saying they would get another bench to hear it. They said that they would never have touched the case if they had known that the questioned appointment involved the relative of someone in the AG's office. And yet, just a few weeks later, in another similar CIMOGG case involving a Law Professor and Members of the Human Rights Commission getting together to appoint a less-qualified favourite, the AG represented both the UGC and the University. Just as I feared, the AG filed the objections of the relevant. Vice Chancellor as being also the objections of the UGC. The AG thereby untruthfully stated that the UGC agreed with what the Vice Chancellor had done and betrayed one client for another. After the UGC protested that what the State Counsel had filed as the UGC's objections were not the UGC's, the AG hurriedly agreed to withdraw from the case. That is how corrupted things are." University reforms had led Hoole wider areas. He poignantly adds, "when the ruling classes protect each other in their wrong-doings and smother the individuals who are wronged, we have all the ingredients for violent protest. We must uphold the law even when our friends do wrong and we cannot identify with the person who is wronged. Sri Lanka is on the brink of separation with all the potential for continued hatred and conflict. Upholding the law and thereby not aborting the redress that the law offers is the only thing that will make all those who want to opt out of Sri Lanka, rethink their position." |
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