Institutional and Academic Resilience Amidst Political Challenges: Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara’s Legacy

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Institutional and Academic Resilience Amidst Political Challenges: Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara’s Legacy

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“Hey, why are you delayed?” He rolled down the window of his car, stopped it, and yelled at me.

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“Stop all external classes and complete your master’s as soon as possible.”

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There were no more than five words exchanged between us when I was suddenly appointed as a receptionist in the front office of the Dean of Social Sciences. No more talks, only formal attire daily to his office, and no more smiles on his face. He always appeared as a typical colonial hierarchical leader of the Faculty of Social Sciences in outlook. However, his true dedication and determination in helping academic and non-academic staff and students proved how cool-hearted and mindful he was towards others.

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Once I passed the permanent interview for Lecturer Probationary, he thunderously advised me:

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“Hmm, now you can soon go for your doctoral studies. Earn your Ph.D. as soon as possible.”

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It was on July 16, 2007.

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But later, we found that Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara substantially contributed to changing the direction of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, in many ways. He consistently applied innovative approaches to the faculty: academic staff training on Wednesdays for temporary and probationary lecturers was mandatory for all staff. Short-term foreign academic orientation training with the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi network was another productive initiative for the Faculty of Social Sciences academic staff. The faculty’s physical outlook and generated funds were lucratively and attractively transformed. Annual international conferences and journal paper submissions by new lecturers were highly appreciated. Each year, senior faculty members were arranged to organize international conferences. Developing funds for master’s programs, academic training, and raising funds for master’s and doctoral studies were some of the key projects during his tenure.

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Once he became the Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, he further increased postgraduate and international conference funds and annual paper publication funds. Each year, all faculties were instructed to organize international conferences and academic training by inviting professors from foreign universities to each department. Introducing appreciation and encouragement for early completion of postgraduate qualifications were some of the best innovative duties Professor Sunanda introduced to the University of Kelaniya.

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Most of us performed well and developed under the patronage and proper guidance of Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara during his remarkably successful tenure at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.

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However, the country’s spoiled and corrupted party political influence leaked into the university system. As with the country’s other organizational structures and systemic issues, the university faced various political threats. Meanwhile, political conflicts and rivalries vehemently increased inside the faculty and the university, and Professor Sunanda and his rivals engaged in a race of institutional collisions and conflicts.

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Despite these incidents, he encouraged young lecturers to pursue postgraduate training in well-developed countries, publish academic papers in reputed journals, and engage in many other institutional and academic activities consistently encouraged during his tenure at the University of Kelaniya. One key indicator supporting this argument is that the University of Kelaniya became the third-ranked university in Sri Lanka while achieving substantial growth in global rankings, reaching approximately 3200 in the index from 2014 to 2017.

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As is typical in the global south’s political culture, Sri Lankan universities, particularly the faculties of arts, social sciences, and humanities, are plagued with petty political conflicts that yield no benefits or opportunities, only damaging the entire academic system with unnecessary divisions based on personal sentiments that have no value to the academic community.

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One of the biggest mistakes or problems that Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara made was helping most of his students and colleagues, young and old, without any limitations beyond his positions as either Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences or Vice Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya. What happened to him was a big revolt instigated by those who received help from him. Those who closely loved and lived with him, as his supporters and beneficiaries, damaged and dilapidated Professor Sunanda’s image in the university and other institutions.

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I see this as an example of how non-academic aspects dangerously affect institutions. Despite Professor Sunanda promoting faithfulness in academia with his keen sense of humanity, those he faithfully promoted or positioned destroyed and damaged his image. Unqualified people, chosen and placed by the political ideology of pure personal friendship or Sri Lanka’s socio-cultural extreme Buddhist sentimentality, gravely damaged not only the life of Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara but also caused a long-term crisis and dilapidation in the Faculty of Social Sciences and the entire university.

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Despite all the negative points, the vision and mission of Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara are appreciated and fantastic—he wanted to develop a new, innovative class of academia in the social sciences as well as at the University of Kelaniya. I argue that the country’s deeply rooted political mafia affected the university. However, he made substantial changes and developments despite all his political ambiguities that disrupted the quality of national academic standards.

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In a nutshell, it is not outsiders or alien people who disregarded or forgot the quality of what Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara did in helping young and senior academic staff limitlessly. Still, his students and colleagues, who received immense help and support from him to secure their academic positions in the university and other places, later forgot and overlooked Professor Sunanda’s substantial quality and contribution.

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On top of that, Professor Sunanda has a brilliant political character within Sri Lanka’s dominant hegemonic political masculinity, initially with the United National Party during the early stages after earning his master’s in economics at Shiga? Nagoya University and Osaka Foreign Language University in Japan. Then, President Ranasinghe Premadasa invited him, and later, due to political threats at the university, he moved towards the Rajapaksha Government and became the State Director of Press and Information. During Ranil Wickramasinghe’s tenure, he now serves as a senior Presidential Secretariat. All these profiles indicate his vibrant talents, particularly in his capacity as an administrator, which he developed during his undergraduate years at Vidyalankara University, where he earned first-class honours in Economics. Later, his public presence through column writing in weekly newspapers and authoring small books on Economics showcases his brilliant character in many ways.

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Although he sometimes behaved with administrative monopolization in his vision of work, he provided all possible academic freedom and space for all revolts directed at his political decisions before the university trade union actions and the activism of university students in student politics within the university and the hostel premises. Yet, some of his fellow academics vehemently turned against him in all forms shamelessly. Frankly, sometimes, he became too politically involved in some of his decisions, influenced by indecent fellow students and academic staff who sought his help. Now, vehemently disregarded and disrespectful, they hold their present professorial positions flamboyantly and exaggeratedly despite his initial support.

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However, during our private meetings, we were inspired by his interest in his own experiences in the field of communication and media for the country’s development at the intersections of Third World global south politics, hierarchical government institutional management post-colonialism, and real-world grassroots communication strategies. I am genuinely curious about how this historical genealogy intersects with the current cultural politics of rural and urban community development and the academically termed post-colonial heteronormative patriarchy of hegemonic political masculinity in Sri Lanka. Therefore, I invited him to compile these personal, institutional experiences into a narrative for a book that could benefit present and future generations studying communication for development. Hence, as he celebrates his 70th birthday, albeit belatedly, I once again invite him to share his marvelous political communication strategies in a helpful book.

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Professor Sunanda has been a leader in multiple roles—as a father, mother, and brother—beyond his typical positions as mentor, professor, and administrator. This underscores a modern academic institutional policy practice where, despite academics naturally holding diverse political opinions, contemporary academic institutions should not allow these personal political differences to undermine the beautiful integration of diverse political ideologies into institutional management theory and real-world practice. This aligns with the current aspirations of Sri Lankan people and youth, encapsulated in the popular political slogan of "system change," which seeks greater harmony and cohesion, reducing rivalries and conflicts within global South development agencies and enhancing institutional management. This approach is particularly applicable to Sri Lankan academic and organizational cultures and behaviors.

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In other words, why can't we embrace a broader liberal political culture not only in academic institutions but across the entire global South? The persistent issue lies in our maintenance of early British Victorian colonial hierarchies of top-down management. A prime example of this is the long-standing personal political conflicts between Professor Sunanda and his early colleagues. Sri Lankan universities still adhere to outdated practices where faculty deans are selected through a cheap and colonial-style political election, rather than based on a common denominator of the highest local and global standards of academic excellence. Similarly, the appointment of Vice-Chancellors follows a process akin to political elections and nominations by the Senate, influenced by the country's president in favor of his close associates for top institutional positions, not limited to universities. These archaic practices, rooted in early European colonial Victorian management styles, are no longer prevalent in the UK or other developed nations. It is time for us to adopt the best practices from these contemporary models.

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We wish you a very prosperous birthday, Professor Sunanda Madduma Bandara. !

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