SAU Alumni Slammed Sri Lankan Professor For Spreading Misinformation

The South Asian University (SAU) alumni have slammed Sri Lankan professors for a long record of abuse of power, harassment of students and spreading misinformation in the media after his voluntary retirement.

In a letter written to the President of the University, K K Agrawal, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremasinghe, High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in India, Kshenuka Senewiratne and other key stakeholders of the SAARC, the alumni raised concerns regarding prevalent misinformation in the media regarding Sasanka Perera's voluntary retirement.

Perera was the founding member and chairperson of the department of sociology and vice-president of the university. He allegedly abused his power on several occasions. When the university administration started enquiring, he tried to put the blame on all faculty members.

Breaking the silence on the issue, alumni wrote a letter to students and key stakeholders debunking prevalent misinformation in the media. There are serious allegations against him including irregularity and dereliction of duties as a teacher and research supervisor, abuse of power, sexual harassment and suppression of academic freedom.

The letter states that many faculty members of International relations studies had signed a complaint about Perera's misconduct. Abusing his power, the Sri Lankan professor witch hunted the complaining faculty members. He also forced a couple of the progressive professors to resign. He manipulated students and put their careers at risk for his benefit and penalised those who refused to accept his illicit demands. A current PhD student from his department, on the condition of not revealing his identity, said, “ During the coursework, I dared to disagree with his point of view academically in the classes and assignments, so he marked me so poorly that my PhD was in grave danger. Thankfully, in other subjects, I scored well!”  Alumni also criticised him, citing the case of sexual harassment against him under the university’s internal committee investigation. Allegedly, Perera had physically and emotionally assaulted a female scholar. A case was filed with the university's internal committee.

Citing the regular dereliction of duty by Perera, the alumnus alleged that he had been a poor teacher and supervisor. He misguided a young Kashmiri PhD student and put his career at risk and uncertainty. Using the name of the student, Perera went ahead and published misinformation in different media houses without the consent of the young scholar.

Last month, Sri Lankan High Commissioner Kshenuka Senewiratne also criticised Parera for providing incomplete information on the ongoing issue to the Sri Lankan High Commission. After getting the complete information, she condemned Perera for hiding facts and retracted from the issue she raised to the university regarding Perera's Case, as reported by media reports.