New CUET VC confined for over 24 hours, Students Demand Resignation

Students at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) have kept newly appointed Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Sheikh Shariful Alam confined inside the university’s administrative building for more than 24 hours, insisting that they will not unlock the building until he resigns. They have also warned the vice-chancellor that he will be held responsible for any untoward incident.

Several people accompanying the vice-chancellor reportedly fell ill overnight after being trapped inside the building without electricity for an extended period. Students arranged medical treatment for them by bringing in doctors. They also provided food and drinking water to those inside, including the vice-chancellor.
On Monday (October 12), students locked the main entrance of the administrative building after the vice-chancellor failed to leave the campus by the noon deadline they had set. They also disconnected the building’s electricity and water supplies.

Following an emergency meeting that afternoon, the CUET Teachers’ Association and the CUET Officers and Employees’ Association announced that they would continue their previously declared work abstention. They strongly rejected the new vice-chancellor’s presence on campus, alleging that he had entered with the help of outsiders.

After the vice-chancellor was confined, students also alleged that local Bangladesh Jatiotabadi Chhatra Dal (JCD) members assaulted CUET students in the Hathazari area while they were travelling on university buses from Chattogram city to the campus.

Earlier, at around 8am on Monday (October 13), the newly appointed vice-chancellor entered his office accompanied by JCD leaders. Students had given him until noon on October 12 to leave his office, according to the report.

On September 21, the Ministry of Education issued a notification appointing Professor Dr Sheikh Shariful Alam, a professor in the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering at Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET), as CUET vice-chancellor. He replaced Professor Abu Sayed Muhammad Sayem.

Protesting the appointment and demanding the reinstatement of the former vice-chancellor, CUET students began a “complete shutdown” on September 22. University teachers, officers and employees joined the movement in support of the students’ demands and have continued their work abstention since then. As a result, all academic and administrative activities have remained suspended for 21 days, with no classes or examinations held during this period.