Banning outsiders on DU campus

Tthere are two aspects of the Dhaka University authorities' decision to keep the campus off-limits to outsiders. First comes the question of whether the decision is implementable. Setting up security checkpoints at every entry point and posting security guards there to check the ID cards of all people who want to go inside is a huge task and needs huge resources. Although we are not making any value judgment of the decision, we simply want to know if it is possible at all to implement the decision, given the large number of people who regularly go to the campus.

Secondly, Dhaka University has been the life-blood of our major democratic movements. It has always been the centre of all kinds of cultural and intellectual activities of the country; it has always been a centre of free thinkers. Various seminars, symposiums and workshops are regularly held on the campus. Therefore, banning people from entering the campus is an absurd decision, on whatever premises the decision might have been taken. 

Moreover, if the authorities are sincere about stopping the intrusion of outsiders, they should first look into the residential halls of the university where, reportedly, a large number of non-students have been residing under the protection of, and supported by, the powers that be. Without taking any steps against them, why are the authorities making the campus off-limits to general people? Are we to assume that they are planning to turn the university into a mini cantonment?

The authorities should rescind the decision immediately and let the DU campus be a place where people from all walks of life can come and join all kinds of cultural and intellectual activities and be enlightened.