CUET students lock building with vice-chancellor inside, chant ‘reject new VC’

Students protesting at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) locked the vice-chancellor’s building from the outside on Monday, leaving Vice-Chancellor Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam inside. The incident took place around noon.

Visiting the building around 12:30 pm, students were seen gathered in front of it, staging a protest. They chanted various slogans, including, “Our demands must be met” and “Reject, reject, reject the new VC”.

According to university sources, protesting students began gathering in front of the vice-chancellor’s building at 9:30 am after learning that the newly appointed vice-chancellor was visiting the campus.

They gave the vice-chancellor an ultimatum to leave his office by noon. At one point, after 12:00 pm, they locked the building’s entrance. The protesting students also said they had disconnected the electricity supply to the building.

Mahira Tajrin, a student of the Department of Mechanical Engineering who is taking part in the protest, said, “The vice-chancellor broke the padlock we had put on the building and entered. We had given him an ultimatum, but he did not listen. So we locked it again.”

The lock also left Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) CUET unit president Wasif Rashed and several other leaders and activists of the organisation inside the building with the vice-chancellor.

After the building was locked, Rashed told Prothom Alo over the phone, “They are protesting against a government decision. Even this morning, one of our leaders was harassed while bringing flowers.”

According to students, shortly after the vice-chancellor arrived on campus, JCD CUET unit organising secretary Biplab Hossain was taking flowers and food to his office. The protesting students stopped him from entering the vice-chancellor’s building. At one point, the flowers and food were taken from him and thrown away.

On 21 September, Sheikh Shariful Alam was appointed CUET vice-chancellor, replacing Professor Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem. In protest against the appointment and demanding Sayem’s reinstatement, students have been enforcing a ‘complete shutdown’ since the following day.

Locking the entrance to the vice-chancellor’s building was part of that programme. Teachers, officers and other employees have also been observing a strike since that day with the same demand.

Until now, the new vice-chancellor, Sheikh Shariful Alam, had been unable to enter the campus because of the protests by teachers and students. However, on Monday morning, he broke the padlock on the vice-chancellor’s building and entered his office accompanied by JCD leaders.

According to university sources, the vice-chancellor arrived on campus in a HiAce microbus. At the entrance, he identified himself only as a “teacher” to gain entry. He then went to the vice-chancellor’s building with JCD leaders and broke the lock at the gate to enter his office.

Visiting the building in the morning Professor Sheikh Shariful Alam was found seated in the chair designated for the vice-chancellor. CUET JCD unit president Wasif Rashed, joint general secretary Abu Sufian Al Sabit and organising secretary Biplab Hossain were also in his room. When asked about their presence, Abu Sufian Al Sabit told Prothom Alo, “We entered together.”