CUET Students Reject VC Routine Appointment

Intensifying the administrative and academic deadlock at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), demonstrating students have formally rejected the interim delegation of Vice Chancellor duties. The non-cooperation and shutdown movements entered their 18th consecutive day, while internal controversy mounted regarding the legal precedence of sidestepping institutional deans, compounded by faculty members voting to reinforce an all-out strike.

In an official declaration issued on 10 October, Saturday, student representatives denounced the transfer of routine VC authorities to Mechanical Engineering Professor Dr. Md. Arafat Rahman. The statement underlined that since the university body unequivocally repudiated the appointment of newly designated Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Sheikh Shariful Alam, any administrative decree originating from him lacks moral validity and institutional acceptance. Urging Prof. Arafat Rahman to formally decline the routine designation, the students reiterated that the full reinstatement of former Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem remains the sole acceptable resolution to reopen classrooms.

Simultaneously, the Executive Committee of the CUET Teachers' Association convened an emergency assembly on Saturday (10 October). A formal resolution signed by Association President Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ahsan Ullah and General Secretary Prof. Dr. Md. Abul Hashem announced the unanimous decision to further consolidate and intensify their ongoing all-out work abstention—including supplementary administrative duties—alongside continuing sit-in demonstrations.

Campus records indicate that Prof. Sheikh Shariful Alam issued an electronic communication on 09 October delegating routine administrative charge to Prof. Arafat Rahman for 11 and 12 October, citing his scheduled departure for University Grants Commission (UGC) meetings in Dhaka. However, observers pointed out that the standard procedural hierarchy defined by the Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology Act typically delegates interim authority to the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Treasurer, or the most senior Faculty Dean during absences. Dismissing regulatory critiques, Prof. Alam argued that designating any professor suffices without mandatory preference for deans, while Prof. Arafat Rahman asserted that routine responsibilities can be managed remotely without physically occupying the central administrative suites.

The protracted crisis originated on 21 September when authorities replaced internally selected Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem with Prof. Dr. Sheikh Shariful Alam from KUET, prompting students to enforce a complete shutdown starting 22 September. Despite 18 days having elapsed, student cordons have physically barred the new administrator from entering campus, keeping the VC office padlocked under banners reading "Only Prof. Sayem can unlock this door." With the incumbent conducting duties remotely from the Chittagong Circuit House following an online joining letter submitted on 24 September, the prolonged absence of state-level dialogue leaves the university's academic future deeply uncertain.

//DBTech/CHG/SDNE/MSI//