Hold Ducsu election for healthy student politics

Demand for election to Dhaka University Central Students Union (Ducsu) appears to be resurfacing again among general students after years of gap as the country's premier university has not seen activities of the crucial students' forum for over two decades.

“It appears that Dhaka University loses its traditional academic character due to absence of the central students union,” said Mamun Ahmed, a student of Economics department.

The general students as well as the university authorities, he said, are facing different problems which could have been settled with vibrant Ducsu and hall unions, as student unions are supposed to be the most effective academic forums of any university across the world.

“The absence of Ducsu has contributed to the rise of unhealthy student politics during the past two decades when muscle power instead of intelligence dominated the campus,” said Nasim Ahmed, a final year student of English department.

DU saw its last Ducsu election in the late eighties for one-year tenure amid a different political circumstance as the country at that time was witnessing a growing campaign against autocratic rule.

A number of senior university students said the student organisations backed by major political parties had played the role of Ducsu pretending to stand by an ordinary student providing a valuable seat in dormitories in exchange for loyalty to their politics.

“We have seen even a worse scene when a student organisation with political backing evicted common students from the dormitories to be replaced by non-student hooligans or outside armed cadres,” said Zafarullah Sohel, a student of International Relations department.

Several teachers of the university agreed that the muscle-flexing “cadres” would not have got access to the campus or dormitories had the Ducsu was in place to see the problems of common students.

“A central student union or the hall student unions are also needed for the healthy entertainment practices and cultural activities on the campus, of which DU remained deprived for the past two decades,” said Prof Emeritus Serajul Islam Chowdhury.

The vibrant cultural and extracurricular activities like holding of sports, debate competitions, dramas and musical festivals on the campus under the auspices of Ducsu and hall student unions when DU said to have witnessed its golden times despite various difficulties, he recalled.

Prof Chowdhury said, “The more dangerous thing is that the absence of an elected student forum like Ducsu leads the student organisations to be unaccountable and as a result, instead of mobilising student supports they tend to dominate the campus with muscle power.”

A former DU student and senate member preferring anonymity said the widely criticised “unhealthy teachers' politics” was also encouraged in the absence of the elected students forum.

“The election to Ducsu will definitely have a positive impact in restoring accountability of teachers as well as the student groups as they won't take the risk of losing popularity through unfair practices,” he said.

Analysts said the Ducsu in the past also played a crucial political role during the time of national transitions like the liberation war in 1971, language movement in 1952. It could now play an effective role in shaping the campus atmosphere befitting to the university, once known as the Oxford of the East, they added.