Student boycott cripples Jaffna University

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 January 2003, 22:06 GMT]
More than five thousand undergraduates boycotted classes Monday demanding that the management of the Jaffna University take immediate steps to exert pressure on the Jaffna-based Tamil daily, Uthayan, to tender an apology for having published a false news story on alleged ragging of freshers by senior students, sources said.

No such ragging described in the letter published in Uthayan took place in the university, and the allegation is a fictitious one, undergraduate sources said.

Lecture halls were deserted and not a single student was seen Monday in the university premises. The Vice Chancellor and some members of academic staff reported for work, sources said

Despite the denials by the undergraduates, media sources said that Uthayan had published an explanation stating it has enough evidence to substantiate the allegation of ragging.

Members of Jaffna University Students' Association Monday conducted an investigation to find the person said to have written the said letter to the editor of Uthayan alleging ragging by seniors. Student union sources said no such person has been found in the said address when they visited the place at Kalatty in Jaffna Monday.

The boycott of classes by undergraduates will continue until the university management takes action against the newspaper, student sources said.