DU won't issue IDs

In the wake of recent demonstrations of the Dhaka University students to scrap DU affiliation of the seven colleges in the capital, the university authorities yesterday issued a press release explaining how all the activities of those colleges would be run.

According to the release, academic and extra curricular activities of those seven colleges would be conducted from their respective campuses and the DU authorities would not issue identity cards to the students of the seven colleges.

They would not get residential, transportation, medical and library services of the university and their admission activities, practical exams and banking services would also be conducted from their own campus, added the release.

The release, signed by acting public relation officer of DU, also said that the college authorities would issue identity cards to their students and the students would get all the facilities like transportation or accommodation services from their respective colleges like the way they used to before affiliation.

Mentionable, DU took viva voce and practical exams of the colleges on its campus during this academic year, after the colleges got affiliated with the university on February 16, 2017.

Meanwhile, the agitating students of the university continued their protest yesterday to press home their demands.

Their demands include punishment for Bangladesh Chhatra League activists who foiled Monday's demonstration of DU students, withdrawal of the “false case” against the students over the Wednesday's incident, resignation of DU proctor for “failing” to punish the BCL men and a permanent solution to the crisis of recently affiliated colleges.

Around 200 students organised a protest rally at the base of Raju Memorial Sculpture to press home their demands. Expressing solidarity with the students' movement, Prof MM Akash of the DU economics department said the university authorities could have easily solved the issue by talking with the demonstrating students rather than using activists of a student body to disperse them forcibly.

He also urged the university authorities to come up with a peaceful solution to the crisis.

On Monday, around 400 BCL activists foiled the demonstration of a section of DU students who were staging a sit-in in front of the vice chancellor's office, demanding scrapping of DU affiliation with the seven colleges.

The BCL activists allegedly harassed some of the female students and took one of the coordinators of the protest inside the VC office and assaulted him there.

Then on Wednesday, around 100 students broke the collapsible gate of the Arts Building and demonstrated in front of the proctor's office with the demand of punishing the BCL men and forming a probe body including two student representatives to investigate the incident.

They also confined the proctor for several hours as he failed to give them any assurance and later went to the vice chancellor and gave him an ultimatum to meet their demands within 48 working hours.

But in a surprise move, on Thursday night, the university authorities filed a case against 50 unknown students for vandalising the gate of the Arts Building and formed a three-member probe body to investigate the incident.

They also formed another three-member committee to investigate the Monday's incident. However, they did not include any student representative as per the demand of protesting students, said the students.