SUST Students Set Deadline on SUCSU Polls, Call Class–Exam Boycott
Protesting students of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) have announced that a final decision regarding the elections to the Central Students’ Union (SUCSU) and the hall unions will be taken at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, January 21. At the same time, they have called on students of various departments to boycott classes and examinations.
The announcement was made at around 8:15 pm on Tuesday, January 20, in front of Administrative Building–1, where the students publicly declared their decisions. Earlier, they brought out a protest march on the campus.
The procession moved through key campus roads as well as the residential areas of both male and female halls before culminating in a rally in front of Administrative Building–1. During the march, the students chanted various slogans demanding SUCSU elections.
Addressing the rally, recently graduated student of the Bangla Department, Md Nasim, said, “Instead of waiting for the SUCSU election results, we are being forced to continue our movement. SUCSU was the rightful demand of 9,000 SUST students, but it has now become entangled in dirty national politics. We have been informed that the SUCSU election will not be held tomorrow. As a result, we have decided to hold a press conference on campus tomorrow at 12:00 noon in the presence of the media. We are calling upon all students to be present there.”
Calling for a boycott of classes and examinations by students of all departments from tomorrow, Nasim added, “We have already seen that students from several departments have decided to boycott classes and exams in solidarity with the movement. We are now calling on students of the remaining departments to do the same. Tomorrow, through a written statement, we will formally announce the class and exam boycott.”
Earlier, during protests in front of the administrative building, the agitating students announced that students from 11 departments of the university would boycott classes and examinations until the election is held. They also condemned the resignation of eight election commissioners from the election commission. The students further stated that they would announce their next course of action through a press conference tomorrow morning.
DBTech/EKD/IK/OR
