Respected and much loved figure among students and academics of Moratuwa Uni

It was with great sorrow that my family and I came to know that a person highly respected and loved by all had passed away. For us the alumni of the University of Moratuwa, he was a person who had helped our students, the academics and the administration as well.

It was through some students of the University that I came to know Fr. Mervyn and became connected with the activities of the Subodhi Institute which he set up and served as Director of for over three decades. Many good students had been members of the Astronomical Society and Youth Club of Subodhi.

With my interest in Astronomy I too attended a number of functions and was a key speaker at these functions attended by students, teachers and even parents. They stayed at Subodhi for days and took part in night observation of heavenly bodies. He organized exhibitions and displays for students on topics ranging from the history of the Piliyandala area, astronomy, nature, wild life, etc.

He held a two week workshop on Astronomy and Cosmology with a US Professor as the resource person. I remember one participant, the DMO Medawachchiya, a lover of astronomy. Fr. Mervyn, a member and President of the Sri Lanka Astronomical Society, took a keen interest in this subject.

One of our former Vice Chancellors got down Father Mervyn to conduct a course for fresher students.

It was in the early 1990s that his wisdom and experience was received by the university which was opened after two years of closure including the assassination of the then Vice Chancellor and the Chief Security Officer, inside the campus.

As the newly appointed Vice Chancellor, one of the first activities I conducted was a workshop for staff members, counsellors, members of the National Youth Council, and others, to plan activities to win the goodwill of students. The venue was the Subodhi Institute in order to have Fr. Mervyn as the principal resource person. Father’s counselling and university experience helped us to plan a number of strat- egies including improving infrastructure such as the library and student hostels, setting up a professional full-time student counselling system, creating a bursary scheme for those who are marginally left out of the major bursary systems and introducing more student activities and societies.

In due course the university had a full-fledged library, expansion of hostels, setting up of a bank, bookshop, cooperative store and even a barber’s salon. Qualified counsellors, were also introduced at the workshop. Classes in drama, Kandyan dancing and eastern and western classical music too were started. The campus became a hive of activities with negative features diminishing slowly.

The credit for eradicating the menace of ragging from the faculties of Engineering and Architecture goes to Father Mervyn. At an informal discussion with the student council leaders and the administration it was decided to get his views. What we wanted from him was a verdict whether ragging was good or bad. He said a questionnaire should be conducted from fresher students and immediate seniors. Under his guidance the students prepared the survey, got the students’ views and realized that ragging was more violent than they imagined with female students receiving the worst treatment.

Thus the student council put up notices saying that they do not condone ragging and that the council would not be responsible for anyone engaging in such activities. This ended ragging in the University of Moratuwa, except in the National Diploma in Technology (NDT) course, whose students did not belong the student council.

Father Mervyn was a close associate of Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who was also the Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa, for a long time. In my book published in Sinhala, on the life of Sir Arthur, especially concerning his involvements in Sri Lanka, there is a photograph of Father Mervyn and Sir Arthur in the audience with Pope John Paul.

May he rest in peace.

Professor G.T.Francis de Silva