An associate professor at Ferris State University was arrested by ICE on Nov. 12.
News of the arrest was announced on Nov. 25.
Sumith Gunasekera has been employed at Ferris as an associate professor of marketing in the College of Business, where he taught statistics courses.
According to the official press announcement from the Department of Homeland Security, Gunasekera is reported to be a “criminal alien sex offender”.
The announcement states that Gunasekera has several charges against him with his criminal background, including uttering death threats, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and sexual interference during his time in Ontario, Canada.
These charges were made against him in 1998.
Gunasekera was later charged in 2003 for open lewdness and in 2004 for disorderly conduct in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Gunasekera also has a charge against him for invitation to sexual touching and sexual interference in Ontario, allegedly relating to conduct with a minor.
This case saw him sentenced to one month in jail and one year of probation.
Gunasekera first entered the U.S. in 1998, where he then left for Canada and returned a year later on a student visa.
He originates from Sri Lanka.
It was discovered in 2012 while applying for a change in status that Gunasekera was convicted of crimes during his time in Canada.
Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications at Ferris State University, David Murray, explained that the university was made aware of the situation on Nov. 25.
“Ferris State University leaders on Tuesday became aware of accusations regarding Professor Sumith Gunasekera,” Murray said. “He has been placed on administrative leave while the university regards more information. This is a personnel issue and it would be inappropriate for the university to further discuss the matter.”
Information on Gunasekera was limited on the Ferris website.
In the press report issued by the Department of Homeland Security, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin expressed disgust over Gunasekera’s employment with the university.
“It’s sickening that a sex offender was working as a professor on an American college campus and was given access to vulnerable students to potentially victimize them,” McLaughlin said. “Thanks to the brave ICE law enforcement officers, this sick is behind bars and no longer able to prey on Americans. His days of exploiting the immigration system are over. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, criminals are not welcome in the U.S.”
Design senior Emma Eling is a student participating in an online statistics course taught by Gunasekera.
On Nov. 17, Eling received a Canvas message from director of the Data Science and Analytics programs, Elies Kouider, stating that Gunasekera had been in an accident on Nov. 10 and was in the ICU as a result.
Kouider took charge of the course and has been providing material to the students participating since Nov. 17.
According to Eling, it was alarming to receive the message, with several questions arising regarding course completion and the development of Gunasekera’s situation.
“It’s crazy to see that a professor is being affected by [ICE], and having a professor that is not a U.S. citizen is not as upsetting to me as seeing that he had some prior history with sex offender crimes,” Eling said. “That is very frightening to see a professor in that situation, especially having that power over students. That’s more alarming to me than anything else.”
Eling noted that she is a Big Rapids native and has known several individuals who have worked for the faculty and been involved in administration.
She expressed that she felt that this was a secular incident and not something to demonize the university.
“I was flabbergasted, but I don’t think that it was anything vindictive or more conspiracy than just human error where something was overlooked. There’s a conversation to be had about those checks and balances so that things like this don’t slip under the radar, but I don’t think it was anything malicious.”
At the time this article is written, the results of Gunasekera’s immigration proceedings remain unknown.