CU mired in grouping and irregularities

The University of Chittagong (CU) is mired in numerous issues like grouping among teachers, irregularities in recruitment, sexual harassment of female students, factional clashes among BCL activists and domination of non-students on campus. Despite repeated warnings from the University Grant Commission over irregularities in recruitment, there has been no resolution to the problems.

Meanwhile, at least 24 were injured in factional clashes among BCL activists in several phases on Thursday and Wednesday. The academic activities of this second largest autonomous university of the country are being greatly hampered in such a situation.

Two factions of university BCL named ‘Choose friends with care’ and ‘69’ locked in clashes on 8:00 pm Thursday over a trivial reason for sitting in a tea stall. At least nine members of CU Chhatra League sustained injuries in the clash.

Earlier on Wednesday, the members of ‘69’ faction were at loggerheads with another group named ‘Bijoy’ twice, injuring at least 15 BCL activists.

In the meantime, the Chittagong University Teachers' Association have been demanding the resignation of the vice-chancellor (VC) and pro-VC for the last three months. They have never been into such a long and continuous movement ever before.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, professor Siraj Ud Daullah, dean of the sociology department, said the university administration is more involved in irregularities than any time ever. The administration has formed a recruitment board one after another defying the law. They have recruited teachers and employees beyond the advertised posts. The administration has no power in the residential halls of the university at all.

However, VC Shireen Akhter claimed everything is in order. Speaking to Prothom Alo on Thursday, she said she is running the administration very efficiently.

The CU teachers brought up several allegations of irregularities while speaking to Prothom Alo. Of them, the allegation of recruitment through money is most prominent. More than 500 teachers have been recruited in different departments and institutions over the last decade. There are allegations that most of this recruitment was made based on political consideration and recommendation of influential teachers and political leaders.

Current VC Shireen Akhter took over in June 2019. The recruitment process has been criticised the most during her term. In June 2021, as many as 12 teachers and 15 employees were recruited to the Laboratory School and College, which is governed by the university, without any circular. It was alleged that the recruitments were made based on the preference of top university officials and recommendations from influential teachers and BCL leaders.

The irregularities in recruitment at the CU came to limelight in February 2022. That year, a total of five phone conversations related to illegal money transactions for the recruitment of teachers and employees were leaked. The conversations were between two job aspirants and CU VC’s personal secretary Khaled Misbahul and comptroller of accounts office employee Ahmad Hossain. They were talking about recruitment in exchange for money. After that, Khaled Misbahul was removed from the post of VC’s personal secretary. The recruitment in the Persian language department was also cancelled subsequently.

According to the sources in the university syndicate, some 368 teachers and employees were recruited since the existing VC took over five years ago in 2019. Of them, 130 were posts of teachers. At least 35 persons were recruited beyond the advertised posts. At least 48 were appointed on a daily wage basis, which is illegal as per the laws of the UGC. However, the administration didn’t care about that.

UGC member professor Hasina Khan told Prothom Alo that the UGC has sent letters after the allegations of the irregularities surfaced. A probe committee was formed. However, the UGC doesn’t have the jurisdiction to take actions against any university. However, it has stopped providing budgets for additional recruitment and unnecessary promotions.

The syndicate sources say, among the newly recruited employees, at least 20 are current or former leaders and activists of BCL. Notable among them are – former BCL vice-presidents Shayan Dashgupta, Tamzid Kamran, Sharif Uddine Md Al Amin, Aminul Islam, Abul Kashem, Altaf Hossain, organising secretary Saleh Ekram, deputy secretary Shahriar Emon, former BCL joint general secretary Md Zia, former cultural affairs secretary Mahfuz Ahmed, former information and technology affairs secretary Shariful Islam and former BCL members Md Parvej and Shoaibul Islam and former vice-president of BCL’s CU unit, Sabuj Mia.

The university sources say some 23 people were recruited to the posts of lecturer in five departments on 4 March last year. Seven of them were recruited beyond the advertised posts that time. On 30 January, 30 people were recruited in five departments, including six people recruited outside the posts on the circular. Apart from that, the latest recruitment was approved by the syndicate on 30 November. Some nine teachers and 24 employees were appointed that day.

However, CU vice-chancellor Shireen Akhter refuted the allegation of irregularities in recruitment saying, “There have been no discrepancies in recruitment in my time. It’s true that some of the recruitment was made on the basis of recommendations. Besides, some BCL leaders and activists have been recruited. However, every one of those recruited was eligible.”

There are three teachers’ organisations in the university - the ‘yellow panel’ of the pro-Awami League and left leaning teachers, the ‘white panel’ of pro BNP-Jamaat teachers and the Nationalist Teachers Forum consists of a faction of the pro-BNP teachers. There have been reports of conflicts among the teachers in the yellow panel lately. Besides, a new circle of teachers supporting the VC has emerged, which led to the formation of their anti-group.

Strife has been ongoing between the VC and the teachers’ association for almost three months over the ‘forced’ appointment of teachers in the Bengali and law departments.

The association brought up allegations against the VC of recruiting teachers in these two departments defying the ordinance on 17 December. Since then, the Chittagong University Teachers' Association have been holding several programmes demanding resignation of the VC and pro-VC, including symbolic hunger strike, sit-in programmes, mass campaign and strike. The pro-vice-chancellor teachers too formed human chains to counter the programmes held by the teachers’ association.

Chittagong University Teachers' Association general secretary Abdul Haque said the association recommended legal actions against the people involved in the discrepancies through a proper investigation. However, the administration didn’t do it. This is why the teachers’ association demands the resignation of the VC and the pro-VC.

However, VC Shireen Akhter claims that she has worked by taking the recommendations made by the association into cognisance.

There is no alternative to seeking permission from the BCL to get a place in the residential halls on the campus. The Chittagong University Authorities declared allotting seats for common students through a circular in September 2022. Almost 16 months have passed since the declaration, but no student has been allotted any seat as yet. Still the BCL leaders pull all the strings in the residential halls.

The figures of university administration show that almost 6,000 students applied for seats in the halls in two phases. But nobody got it. The authorities couldn’t allot even a single seat in the last six years. The students can get seats only on condition of joining BCL.

There are 14 residential halls in the university. Of them, 12 are in operation, seven for male and five for female students. There are a total of 1,088 seats in the seven residential halls for the male students and some 1,000 of them are occupied by BCL leaders and activists. The remaining of the seats is occupied by visually impaired students and newspersons from different news media. This information has been obtained from the sources in the BCL and university administration.

The sources say mainly nine BCL leaders control these halls. The BCL sub-group named ‘69’ entirely controls the Shah Jalal Hall. CU unit Chhatra League’s former joint general secretary Saidul Islam and Shamsuzzaman Chowdhury lead this faction. The Shah Amanat Hall is under the control of ‘Choose friends with care’ led by former BCL CU unit vice-president Mirza Khabir. Leader of the BCL sub-group named ‘Bijay’ Md Ilias, former joint general secretary of CU Chhatra League, controls the Alaol Hall.

The Suhrawardy, Shaheed Abdur Rahman and the AF Rahman Halls are not controlled single handed by any of the groups. Former vice-presidents Pradip Chakrabarty, Abu Bakar, Mainul Islam and former joint general secretary Ahsan Habib control these three halls. None of them are students at the university anymore.

BCL sub-group ‘Epitaph’ members control the Masterda Surja Sen Hall. Former drama and debate affairs secretary of BCL’s CU unit Sazzad Anam leads this faction. Although he enrolled in the university some 10 years ago, he claims he is still a student at the university.

The BCL unit of the Chittagong University was dissolved on 24 September on various allegations, including extortion, beating up newspersons and factional clashes. However, the extortion hasn’t stopped even after that.

According to the university sources, lastly four BCL leaders have been accused of beating up a contractor in confinement for failure to pay the extortion on 31 January. Victim Md Tamzid Uddin lodged a case over the incident mentioning the names of the four involved BCL leaders and seven or eight unidentified persons with the Hathazari police station. However, the police are yet to arrest any person in the case. The administration remains silent despite the complaints. The Bangladesh Contractors Association sent a letter addressing the VC to take actions against the people involved with a warning to stop the project otherwise.

The letter signed by association president Md Sekandar Hossain and general secretary SA Khaled Chowdhury reads the university has turned into a safe house for drug addicted non-students. In addition to collecting extortion money, they are openly attacking the contractor and are engaged in stealing construction materials from the sites.

CU proctor Nurul Azim Sikder said the contractor never mentioned any name in their complaints. So there is no way to take action. However, the administration filed a case over a complaint where the accused was named. In another case, the contractor himself filed a case.

The vice-president of the dissolved BCL unit Pradip Chakrabarty said, “Chhatra League always takes organisational actions if any member is accused of anything. There is no authorised unit of BCL in the university at the moment. Therefore, it is not possible to identify the activists involved in clashes and vandalism.”

A female student was sexually harassed and beaten by five youths on the campus on 17 July at night. The accused stripped the victim and forcefully captured a video of it. A friend of the victim tried to protest, but he too was beaten up arbitrarily. A case was filed with the Hathazari police station a day after the incident and the accused were arrested.

Lastly, a female student of the chemistry department brought allegations of rape attempt against a teacher of her department. The complaint was filed addressing the university VC on 31 January.

Educationist Muhammad Sikandar Khan feels the irregularities in administration and the grouping among the teachers is creating an impact on the academic activities and research eventually.

He said, “Everyone is aware about the irregularities in the recruitment process at the CU. At the same time, grouping among the teachers has become more severe affecting the academic and research activities of the university. Some of the teachers are spending more time on politics than in the classrooms. Now the teachers’ association is waging a movement demanding the resignation of the VC and pro-VC. So the government should sit with both sides to settle the issues.

*This report appeared on the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu