Buet students bear the brunt

Academic activities at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) are being badly hampered by the ongoing conflict between the teachers' association and the administration over a number of burning issues including appointments of the Pro Vice-Chancellor and the registrar.
Since April 7, the Buet Teachers' Association has been staging protests demanding resignation of VC Prof SM Nazrul Islam and Pro VC Prof M Habibur Rahman bringing 16 allegations against them.
The protest has stopped the academic activities of the university for the last 10 days as a number of teachers, including the leaders of the teachers' body, refrained from taking classes. The association leaders said they would keep from taking classes until the VC and Pro VC resigned.
Meanwhile, students of the university on several occasions formed human chains on the campus urging the teachers to resume classes. They implored that their academic progress would seriously be affected if the teachers continue to boycott classes.
In a press conference held on April 15 the teachers' association claimed that the university authorities' appointment of Habibur Rahman, a professor of the civil engineering department, to the post of Pro VC was based solely on his political affiliations.
Prof Rahman was appointed as Pro VC on September 23, 2009.
The university authorities had violated the Buet custom of maintaining seniority with regard to promotion and appointments, alleged the teachers' association. They also claimed that the VC had begun abnormal and massive restructuring of the university administration since he took charge on August 31, 2010.
The VC and Pro VC had flouted the university tradition by forming a separate seven-member body comprised of partisan people for the appointment and promotion of Buet officials, they alleged.
Prof Muhammad Muzibur Rahman, president of the teachers' association, cited the appointment of partisan official Kamal Ahmed to the post of interim registrar by the VC as another example of violation of the university's hierarchy.
The administration was also accused of changing the marks of two students and appointing teachers based on political considerations.
Buet VC Prof Nazrul Islam denied the allegations at a press conference in Buet Conference Building yesterday. He also refused to resign his post when asked by reporters, claiming no irregularities had taken place during his tenure.
"My resignation would solve nothing. If anything, the crisis would only get worse," said the VC.
Any allegations of violating traditions with regard to the appointment of Pro VC were absurd considering that the post had never existed in Buet prior to the current appointee, Prof Nazrul told The Daily Star.
He said President Zillur Rahman, the Chancellor of the university, had created the post of Pro VC at Buet and the appointment had met with his Excellency's approval.
He also defended the allegedly unusual restructuring of the administration, which had seen several officials being replaced. The administration had desperately needed a change in order to be restored to a position of strength, he said, adding that no irregularities had taken place during the transition.
Earlier on April 11, Buet Syndicate, the university's policy-making body, had urged the agitating teachers to discontinue their protest and resume their academic duties.
On April 12 the Buet Teachers' Association had called on Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid at his office, urging him to intervene to solve the ongoing problem and ensure a return to the normal academic activities of the university.
The minister requested that they talk to the VC and Pro VC to reach a solution. Later that day, Nahid sat with the VC and Pro VC and asked them to sort out the problem in concert with the teachers' association.