News

Intl scientists ask UCLA to reverse Lankan origin ecologist’s suspension

Published

3 years ago

2023/01/30

Hundreds of internationally renowned scientists have come together to petition the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), against its decision to suspend Lankan origin award winning ecologist, Priyanga Amarasekare, international media reports said.

A report published by the Nature, on its official site, said that the UCLA’s suspension of ecologist Amarasekare, without salary or benefits, for one year, and will cut her salary by 20% for two more years, and the sanctions on, have baffled the international scientist community who think they are retaliation for speaking out against discrimination.

The Nature report said that “in April last year, the Ecological Society of America awarded Priyanga Amarasekare one of the highest honours in the field of ecology: the Robert H. MacArthur Award. A little over two months later, the UCLA, placed Amarasekare on a one-year suspension, without pay or benefits, and forbade her from accessing her laboratory, maintaining her insect colonies, managing her grants or contacting students. Now scientists from around the world, who call Amarasekare a

“highly distinguished ecologist”, “a committed teacher and outstanding mentor” and a “tireless advocate for under-represented groups”, are calling for her reinstatement.”

Amarasekare holds B.Sc. Honours degree in Zoology from the University of Colombo, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from University of California Irvine. She was elected a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America in 2017. She served on the Editorial boards of Ecology Letters, Journal of Animal Ecology, and Theoretical Ecology. She is the co-Chief Editor of the Models in Ecology and Evolution section of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.

The report by Nature.com said that the precise allegations that led to her suspension are unknown. UCLA has declined to release them, and barred Amarasekare from discussing the matter publicly. But long-standing tensions between Amarasekare and the university are no secret. Originally from Sri Lanka and one of two women of colour who have tenure in UCLA’s ecology and evolution department, Amarasekare has previously accused the university of discrimination for repeatedly denying her promotions that were granted to colleagues. Former students and faculty members who are familiar with the situation think that Amarasekare’s suspension was retaliation for speaking out.

Some 315 scientists have raised concerns about her suspension in a petition that was delivered to the university on 23 January, arguing that Amarasekare “has long been denied significant advancement within her department, out of keeping with her contributions to the field”. Moreover, the sanctions levied against Amarasekare — including the one-year suspension and a 20% salary reduction for an additional two years — represent “the kind of punishment normally applied only to the most egregious wrongdoings”, including scientific misconduct and sexual harassment, the petitioners write.

In the absence of compelling evidence to the contrary, the scientists ask that UCLA rescind the disciplinary actions and fully compensate Amarasekare.

Officials at UCLA say that the university “supports freedom of expression and does not condone retaliation of any sort”. They declined to discuss the accusations against Amarasekare or the statements of those who support her, saying the university is “bound to respect the privacy of the numerous individuals involved in this matter”. Amarasekare also declined to comment.

Amarasekare’s colleagues told Nature that she is the rare ecologist whose research spans theoretical, computational and experimental realms. One project in her laboratory that touches on all of these areas focuses on the impact of climate change on insect communities. “She’s really several years ahead of everybody else,” says Andy Dobson, an ecologist at Princeton University in New Jersey who helped to lead the petition. Dobson has written letters to support Amarasekare’s various applications for promotion at UCLA and says he has been baffled by the university’s decisions. “She complained, and most of what’s happened seems to be a reaction against that,” he says.

Nature spoke to several former students and faculty members who defended Amarasekare in administrative hearings in September 2021. Although no one knew the specific details of the charges against her, they all thought she was targeted for speaking out against what she saw as discrimination in the department. In particular, they said Amarasekare vented about her own experience at UCLA on a departmental e-mail listserv created to discuss issues of racism and discrimination in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, whose death in May 2020 sparked international protests.

“That’s why she got into trouble. She ended up criticizing pretty much the entire department — with good reason,” says Marcel Vaz, an ecologist at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, who was a graduate student in the department at the time. He and other students came forward to support her. “We demanded some explanation,” Vaz says, “but we never got any feedback.”

Peter Kareiva, a former UCLA faculty member who spoke on Amarasekare’s behalf during the administrative proceedings, calls her a brilliant scientist as well as a terrific teacher and student mentor. Kareiva witnessed Amarasekare raise uncomfortable issues and challenge internal policies in faculty meetings. He says she might have made mistakes in terms of “facilitating harmony” among fellow faculty members, but that her goal was always to improve the department.

“I am still incredulous by the punishment levied,” says Kareiva, who now serves as president of the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California.

It is unclear what happens next, but scientists contacted by Nature are concerned about the impact of the suspension on Amarasekare’s current students, the disruption of her federally funded research and the potentially irretrievable loss of time-sensitive experiments that could provide insights into the ecological impacts of climate change.

As the recipient of the MacArthur award, Amarasekare is expected to discuss this research when she delivers her keynote address at the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting in Portland, Oregon, in August.

All News Advertisement

News

Govt. assures UN of readiness to introduce ‘vetting process’ for troops on overseas missions

Published

18 hours ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Thuyakontha

Defence Secretary (retd.) Air Marshal Sampath Thuyakontha has discussed with UN officials in New York the deployment of Sri Lankan troops in Haiti, under a new UN authorised force, tasked with tackling heavily armed gangs operating in the violence ravaged country.

The UN is in the process of building up a force comprising approximately 5,500 officers and men for deployment in Haiti.

The Sri Lankan delegation included Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN, former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. The UN has tagged the deployment Gang Suppression Force (GSF).

According to the Defence Ministry, Sri Lanka negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the GSF. Although Sri Lanka has contributed to UN-led missions, the proposed deployment differed due to the nature of the operation, sources told The Island.

The delegation has assured that all personnel, assigned for UN missions, including the proposed GSF deployment in Haiti, would be subjected to a comprehensive screening process, in line with UN standards. War-winning Sri Lanka has declared, in New York, that the country was in the process of developing, what the Defence Ministry here called, National Human Rights Vetting Mechanism in consultation with the UN Resident Coordinator in Colombo.

The US has backed the deployment of Sri Lankan troops under UN command. Various interested parties, over the years, protested against the deployment of Sri Lankan troops on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations.

Thuyakontha has assured that troops would maintain highest standards of discipline during overseas missions. Sri Lanka brought the war here to a successful conclusion in May 2009 against predictions of contrary outcome by so-called experts.

The US and Panama proposed the GSF to replace a Kenya-led multinational force undermined by a lack of funding. Its strength hovered around 1,000, rather than the desired 2,500. The U.N. Security Council authorised the 5,500 strong force on September 30, 2025, with the new power to arrest gang members.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Lawyers cannot be denied right to represent a suspect – Udaya

Published

18 hours ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Sallay

Sallay’s case:

Attorney-at-law Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (27) said a lawyer could not be deprived of his or her right to represent a client.

The former Minister and leader of Pivuthuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Gammanpila said so addressing the media at the party headoffice at Pita Kotte. Gammanpila was responding to recent media reports that he had been prohibited from representing retired State Intelligence Service (SIS) Chief Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay. Therefore, there was absolutely no basis for claims that he had been barred from meeting the retired officer, now named the third suspect in the Easter Sunday case, the ex-parliamentarian said.

Gammanpila emphasised that in terms of the Constitution a suspect’s right to be represented by a lawyer was recognised as a fundamental right. The Criminal procedure Code, too, guaranteed the suspect’s right to consult a lawyer, the ex-lawmaker said, pointing out that the Judicial Organisation Act underscored the same.

Declaring that the retired officer’s wife had named him as Sallay’s lawyer in a letter addressed to Director, CID, Gammanpila said that the courts, police and the Attorney General’s Department couldn’t under any circumstances interfere with his right to represent Sallay.

The CID arrested Sallay on 25 February and detained him under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for a period of 90 days. Sallay has filed a writ petition before the Court of Appeal through his lawyers, challenging his arrest and detention by the CID under the PTA.

Former Minister Gammanpila said that even if a Magistrate had the power to prohibit a lawyer from representing a particular suspect, such a course of action couldn’t be resorted to without giving the lawyer concern an opportunity to explain his/her actions.

Declaring that in case of misconduct on the part of a lawyer only the Supreme Court could take disciplinary action, the PHU leader said, adding that he sought a certified copy of the proceedings of the day when a section of the media reported the Magistrate’s declaration of the purported ban. Gammapila said that he was really keen to know what happened during the proceedings on that day.

Sallay served as Director, Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) from 2012 to 2016 and received the appointment as head of SIS following the 2019 presidential election. Sallay held that appointment till early October, 2024.

Gammanpila said that he couldn’t be barred for speaking to the media after meeting Sallay, currently held under PTA, or for authoring a book on the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage. According to Gammanpila as long as the suspect had no objections to his lawyer sharing some information with the media it shouldn’t be an issue for Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Police seek Interpol help to probe monks nabbed with narcotics at BIA

Published

18 hours ago

2026/04/28

Sahan Weerasooriya

Police investigating the thwarted a bid made by 22 Buddhist monks to smuggle in narcotics, with a street value of Rs 660 mn via BIA, from Thailand, over the weekend, believe the monks who organised the clandestine operation had sent groups of monks to Thailand before.

Sources said that they had brought in narcotics on earlier occasions.

Police have seized the mobile phones used by the suspects and sought INTERPOL assistance.

Earlier, the Negombo Magistrate’s Court remanded those 22 monks, arrested in connection with the largest drug bust in the airport’s history.

The monks were produced before the Negombo Magistrate’s Court and ordered to be held in custody until 02 May, as investigations continue into the alleged smuggling operation and any wider networks involved.

However, other sources said that more than 110 kilogrammes of suspected Kush and Hashish, with an estimated street value exceeding Rs 1.1 billion, had been found, concealed in false-bottoms of their suitcases. The bags reportedly packed with school supplies and sweets are said to have contained over five kilogrammes of narcotics per individual.

The arrests followed a raid by the Police Narcotics Bureau on Saturday night. Investigators have also recovered mobile phone evidence indicating that the group had travelled to Bangkok on 22 April using airline tickets allegedly given by a sponsor. Authorities allege that the suspects were photographed in civilian clothing, while overseas, engaging in activities deemed suspicious.

Police say this marks the first reported instance of a large-scale narcotics operation via the airport involving Buddhist monks. The suspects are young monks from different parts of the country.

By Norman Palihawadana