CU Alaol Hall students lock provost’s office demanding resignation

Students and leaders of the Alaol Hall Union of Chittagong University (CU) locked the office of the hall provost and the hall office today, demanding his resignation over alleged mismanagement and authoritarian behaviour.

The offices were locked around 1:00pm today, with the provost and four others inside. The locks were removed around 3:00pm following a meeting between students and the university’s proctorial body and assurances from the vice-chancellor.

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Students alleged the provost failed to resolve accommodation and development problems, ignored their opinions, made unilateral decisions, and humiliated students, employees and officials. They also accused him of withholding hall cards and failing to coordinate with the hall union.

The hall union declared the provost unwelcome and demanded his resignation, saying 37 officials and employees and 178 students had signed a document raising allegations.

Denying the charges, Alaol Hall Provost Prof Jamalul Akbar Chowdhury said, “I was not informed about the students’ complaints. Had they been brought to me, I would have tried to resolve them. Since taking charge in May, I have taken initiatives to improve accommodation, dining, sports and renovation.”

He claimed that attempts to identify illegal residents had triggered allegations brought against him of being "authoritarian".

“Locking me up without giving me an opportunity to address complaints is what I consider ‘mob culture’,” Jamalul said.

After the locks were removed, Ashraful Islam, social service, environment and human rights affairs secretary of the hall union, said, “The proctorial body, on the vice-chancellor’s instructions, assured us our demands would be resolved soon. Based on that, we removed the locks. However, we set a condition that the offices will remain locked until our demands are met.”

University Assistant Proctor Prof Kamrul Hossain said the vice-chancellor assured students that all reasonable demands within the administration’s capacity would be met.