CUET students lock building with new vice-chancellor inside amid shutdown

Students at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) locked the vice-chancellor's building from outside with newly appointed Vice-Chancellor Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam inside on Monday, escalating tensions amid their ongoing “complete shutdown” programme.

The students gathered outside the building after the vice-chancellor entered his office and chanted slogans, including “Lock it, lock it, lock it, the VC building will be locked.” At one stage, they locked the building from outside while he remained inside.

Sabiha Shabnam, a fourth-year student of the Mechanical Engineering Department who is taking part in the protest, told The Daily Campus that holding a position did not automatically make someone acceptable to everyone.

“Wearing a crown does not make someone a king, sir. Holding a position and earning acceptance from everyone are not the same thing. Even after everything that has happened, you ignored the objections and protests of the concerned people, broke the lock and entered the VC building. It is difficult to understand what message you wanted to convey by doing so,” she said.

She added that students expected a person holding such an important position to demonstrate a sense of responsibility, restraint and respectful behaviour.

“Yet your actions have called those expectations into question. The dignity of a position is established not simply by occupying the seat, but through behaviour and acceptance. I strongly condemn and denounce your decision,” she said.

How the vice-chancellor entered the campus

Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam entered the campus at around 9am on Monday. University sources said he arrived in a HiAce microbus and entered through the gate identifying himself as a teacher.

He later went to the vice-chancellor's office accompanied by leaders of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD), who broke the lock on the building's entrance. He then sat in the chair designated for the vice-chancellor.

CUET unit JCD president Wasif Rashed, joint general secretary Abu Sufian Al Sabit and organising secretary Biplob Hossain were present in his office at the time.

The vice-chancellor had been scheduled to be in Dhaka to attend a meeting of the University Grants Commission (UGC). For this reason, Professor Dr Arafat Rahman of the Mechanical Engineering Department had also been assigned routine duties as vice-chancellor for October 11 and 12.

Students issue ultimatum, cut electricity

After the vice-chancellor entered the building, protesting students gave him an ultimatum to leave by noon. They warned that if he failed to leave within the deadline, they would declare the building “vacant”, lock its entrance and disconnect electricity and water supplies.

When the deadline expired, students locked the inner entrance of the vice-chancellor's building at around 12:30pm. They also disconnected the building's electricity supply.

During the protest, students chanted slogans including “Lock it, lock it, lock it, the VC building will be locked” and “Reject, reject, reject the online VC”.

Classes and exams suspended for 20 days

Students have been enforcing a “complete shutdown” since September 22 to protest the appointment of the new vice-chancellor and demand the reinstatement of former VC Professor Abu Sayed Muhammad Sayeem.

Teachers, officers and employees of the university have also been observing work abstentions in support of the same demand.

Due to the ongoing protests and work stoppages, classes and examinations at CUET have remained suspended for 20 consecutive days.