CUET VC Confined with Power Cut; BUET Students Express Solidarity

The escalating standoff at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) over the demand for newly appointed Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. Sheikh Shariful Alam's resignation and the reinstatement of former VC Professor Dr. Md. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem has escalated into a complete campus paralysis. Following an expired resignation deadline on Monday, 12 October 2026, protesting students locked the Vice-Chancellor inside his official residence and severed the facility's power lines. The confrontation broadened nationally as the general students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) declared active solidarity alongside a total non-cooperation shutdown enforced by CUET faculty and staff associations.

Addressing the media on Monday evening, student coordinators stated that if Prof. Sheikh Shariful Alam resigns, the padlocks will be removed to provide him and his associates safe passage off campus. The students stipulated that he must tender a handwritten resignation directly to them or make a public declaration of resignation before the national press. Otherwise, he will remain confined until Prof. Dr. Abu Sadat Muhammad Sayem is officially restored. Protesters stated they were compelled to padlock the gates and disconnect the electrical supply after the VC breached their 12:00 PM deadline to vacate the building. Campus unrest escalated following reports that the VC entered the university flanked by political outsiders, compounded by trucks being placed to blockade student buses at Kuwaish in Hathazari.

In a significant show of support, the general students of BUET issued an official statement on 12 October expressing solidarity with their CUET peers. The statement stressed that ignoring the perspectives of faculty and students in executive appointments harms academic environments and creates deep instability. The BUET declaration stated, "The acceptability of a university's administrative leadership rests not merely on formal appointment orders, but on winning the trust and confidence of the institutional community. As students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, we express our full solidarity with the legitimate demands of CUET students and align ourselves with their stance of rejecting a VC appointed in disregard of their views."

The crisis deepened further as the CUET Teachers' Association, Officers' Association, and Staff Association jointly enforced an all-out non-cooperation movement, bringing academic schedules, departmental operations, and administrative functions to a total halt.

Simultaneously, student organization Jatiya Chhatra Shakti issued a press note signed by Office Secretary Sardar Nadim Mahfuz Shuvo strongly condemning the incident where the VC reportedly broke administrative office locks under Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal security protocol, pledging continuous support for the students' movement.

During late-night briefings, student spokespersons remarked, "We originally held no institutional grudge against him as an alumnus. Our protest began purely because our previous VC was arbitrarily removed after merely 56 days. However, the current VC threatened faculty, stopped teachers' payrolls, entered campus covertly with external elements, and orchestrated violent attacks on our city shuttle buses. Despite two consecutive attacks on our peers, campus administration offered zero protection. Consequently, the student body outrightly rejects his legitimacy."

Later in the night, when Raozan Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Ongching Marma arrived to facilitate sustenance supplies for the confined VC, students displayed a humanitarian gesture by sharing their own cooked meals and drinking water through the administrative official.

To demand institutional stability and formal accountability for the repeated bus ambushes, Dhaka-based CUET students have scheduled a major protest demonstration and human chain in the capital on Tuesday, 13 October, appealing for nationwide media coverage.

//DBTech/CGH /SMP/MIST//