{"id":115515,"date":"2021-06-25T16:22:24","date_gmt":"2021-06-25T23:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=115515"},"modified":"2021-06-25T16:22:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T23:22:24","slug":"victory-for-the-historic-struggle-by-the-joint-front-to-protect-open-university-jfpou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/06\/25\/victory-for-the-historic-struggle-by-the-joint-front-to-protect-open-university-jfpou\/","title":{"rendered":"Victory for the Historic Struggle by The Joint Front to Protect Open University (JFPOU)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Joint Front to Protect Open University<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The\nJFPOU (the Joint Front to Protect Open University) would like to state with\npride that its historic struggle to reverse the arbitrary decision of the\nPresident to reject the legitimate shortlist for the Vice Chancellor position\nof the Open University of Sri Lanka has been realized. We see this as a victory\nnot just for the Open University of Sri Lanka but for the entire university\nsystem in the country. At a time when we are witnessing increasing political\nand executive interference at all levels in public institutions from the health\nsector to the education sector \u2013 leading to their mismanagement and breakdown \u2013\nthe victory of this historic struggle marks an important moment in which the\nautonomy of a vital institution of higher education has been protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nwould like to note that this victory was the outcome of the solidarity of a\nbroad range of stakeholders \u2013 academics, non-academics and students. We held\npress conferences, wrote to newspapers, held a protest campaign and the Senate\nof the university took a historic decision to withdraw from the re-selection\nprocess after the original shortlist was rejected. However, this victory should\nalso remind us that many challenges lie ahead. We as stakeholders of the\nuniversity and groups that believe in the autonomy and independence of public\ninstitutions need to stay constantly vigilant to the ever present threat of\npolitical interference in this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nwe celebrate this victory we would also like to note that President has\nappointed the candidate placed number three in the shortlist and overlooked the\ncandidate who earned the highest marks. The relevant provision in the 1978\nUniversities Act, while giving the freedom to the President to appoint a\nsuitable name from the shortlist of three names nominated by the Council of the\nuniversity through the University Grants Commission (UGC), also states that the\nUGC should send its \u2018recommendation\u2019 to the President. Throughout many decades\nof tradition in the university system this \u2018recommendation\u2019 has generally meant\nthe candidate who earned the highest marks or votes. But in this instance this\ntradition has been violated. Therefore, we believe that as an urgent priority\nthe Universities Act needs to be amended. The President has no role to play in\nthe selection of a Vice Chancellor. Since the candidates are selected following\na long and rigorous process, the candidate who receives the highest votes or\nmarks should be the natural choice \u2013 if not the entire process is undermined\nand the door is left open to politicization of the appointment. Therefore, we\ncall upon all parties committed to principles of autonomy in public\ninstitutions to lobby the relevant authorities to amend the Universities Act\nand remove the ability of the President\/Executive branch of government to\nunnecessarily intervene and politicize Vice Chancellor appointments. We\nconclude with solidarity and gratitude towards all stakeholders who came\ntogether in this historic struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Anton\nPiyarathne                \nS.\nPremarathne                           \nS.A. Harsha Madushanka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President\/ Open\nUniversity          \nPresident\/ Non-Academic,         \nPresident\/ Open University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teacher\u2019s Association \u2013 OUTA  \nTrade Union Federation-OUSL  Students\u2019 Union-OUSL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Joint Front to Protect Open University The JFPOU (the Joint Front to Protect Open University) would like to state with pride that its historic struggle to reverse the arbitrary decision of the President to reject the legitimate shortlist for the Vice Chancellor position of the Open University of Sri Lanka has been realized. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}