RUCSU GS Ammar calls for shutting down University Teachers’ Network

Rajshahi University Central Students’ Union (RUCSU) general secretary (GS) Salahuddin Ammar has called for shutting down the University Teachers’ Network, an organisation of teachers from various universities.

Ammar made the call yesterday, Sunday, in response to a statement issued by the Teachers’ Network titled “Stop student representatives' activities beyond authority on campus.”

In the comment section of the statement posted on the Teachers’ Network’s Facebook page, Salahuddin Ammar wrote, “I call for shutting down the Teachers’ Network.”

The issue has sparked discussion and criticism on social media platform Facebook.

Expressing anger over the RUCSU GS’s remark, professor AKM Masud Reza of the Bangla Department at Rajshahi University wrote in a personal Facebook post, “Who will shut it down? Who has the audacity? The Teachers’ Network was not born after August 2024; it was formed in 2014. Even the Awami League could not shut down the Network’s activities. This network has never operated by hiding its name or identity. The entire nation knows about the Teachers’ Network’s active role in the July mass movement!”

Calling the comment arrogant, Fuad Ratul, convener of the Rajshahi University unit of the Socialist Student Front, said Salahuddin Ammar must apologise for his remarks about the University Teachers’ Network.

In a Facebook post, he wrote, “They have forgotten that on 1 August, due to fear of arrest, none had the courage to carry out programmes. That day, the silent procession of this Teachers’ Network was declared as Rajshahi’s programme.

“When plainclothes police tried to arrest students, these teachers stood as human shields. That moment of courage reinvigorated the movement across Rajshahi and the whole country. These people have neither respect nor tolerance for dissents, nor any sense of dignity. A group of hegemonic, fascist forces have seated themselves as the self-appointed arbiters of July.”

When contacted about the matter, RUCSU GS Salahuddin Ammar told Prothom Alo on WhatsApp, “I made a comment. If they (the Teachers’ Network) see my work as subversive activity, then I also view their statement with suspicion. They made a call to me, and I made a call to them. If they see it as freedom, then I am also expressing my freedom.”

Yesterday, the University Teachers’ Network issued a statement condemning what it described as extra-jurisdictional activities by elected student representatives at various universities.

The organisation called for such activities to be stopped immediately. The statement came in the context of activities led by RUCSU GS Salahuddin Ammar to force six deans at Rajshahi University to resign.

In its statement, the Teachers’ Network highlighted various instances of mob tendencies and harassing activities against students and teachers under the leadership of RUCSU GS Salahuddin Ammar.

The organisation said such behaviour by RUCSU leaders constitutes a direct attack on the autonomy of academic institutions.