THE Dhaka University authorities on Monday said no outsider will be allowed to roam or stay on the campus without prior permission, a move that goes against the very character of the country’s premier university. The statement also asked provosts concerned to issue letters to those female students who recently demonstrated inside their halls in the dead of night and “hampered normal lives of other students”, and to make them cautious about their “responsibilities and duties” of hall life. The move decided at a provost committee meeting on July 5 raised a volley of questions.
Located at the heart of the capital, there are several roads that crisscross the DU campus, leading to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, BUET and the High Court. The Central Shaheed Minar, the grave of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Sikh prayer hall Gurdwara Nanak Shahi, Bangla Academy and Modhur Canteen are all historical places which are parts of the campus. How it is possible to distinguish an outsider from an insider?
The most obvious reason behind the proclamation seems to be to stop the ongoing momentum of the quota movement. But this is completely unacceptable as students of all educational institutions have the right to take part in any democratic movement. The glorious movements of 1952, 1966 and 1969 would not have been possible had there been such restrictions.
Thus such a proclamation in such a time is nothing but a ploy to repress the rightful demands of the students. This is in line with the overall attitude of the university authorities as the DU Vice-Chancellor on Sunday compared the activities of quota reformists with that of Islamist militant outfits like the Taliban and Al-Shabaab.
Not only us but the whole nation is deeply disappointed that party politics has destroyed sensible leadership by university authority. The Vice-Chancellor of public universities is appointed for not their own competence as Vice-Chancellor but for the consideration of party politics. It does not speak well of the Vice-Chancellors that they are not conscious of their responsibility toward the students.
