Will Arefin stay the DU vice-chancellor?

Dhaka University Vice Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique’s tenure will end on Thursday. Several teachers and students including Prof Sadeka Halim, Prof AKM Golam Rabbani and Prof Harunur Rashid Khan filed a petition with the High Court on July 24 against the convening of a Senate meeting for finalising VC recommendations without nominating or electing representatives from registered graduates. The senate votes for a panel of three candidates for the post of VC and sends it to the chancellor, the president of Bangladesh. The High Court stayed the special senate meeting scheduled for July 29. However, the Appellate Division chamber judge withdrew the High Court’s stay order on July 26 and scheduled the petition to be heard at the full bench on July 30, allowing the senate to convene the special meeting and select three candidates, including Prof Arefin on July 29. Later because of a time petition the hearing was pushed back to August 3. Upon hearing the petition, the Appellate Division stayed the vice-chancellor elect panel and asked the High Court to dispose of the rule by four weeks. It also said Vice-Chancellor AAMS Arefin Siddique can continue to fulfil his duties until the rule is settled. The university Senate finalised the list of nominees for the next VC without voting. As it happened, student demonstrators protested outside the Senate Building, demanding Dhaka University Central Students’ Union (Ducsu) election and locked in a amid a brawl with pro-Awami League teachers. Pro BNP-Jamaat teachers boycotted the senate session. The panel nominees were incumbent VC AAMS Arefin Siddique, Treasurer Prof Kamal Uddin and Science faculty Dean, former Blue panel convener Prof Abdul Aziz. A teacher of the mass communication and journalism department, Arefin Siddique became the 27th VC of the university in 2009. Relieving Prof SMA Faiz from the charge of VC, former president Iajuddin Ahmed gave Prof Arefin the charge under section 11 (2) of Dhaka University Ordinance 1973 to conduct its academic and administrative tasks properly on temporary basis on January 15, 2009. As per the Dhaka University Ordinance, President Abdul Hamid appointed AAMS Arefin Siddique as vice-chancellor for four years from a panel of three candidates elected by the DU senate on August 24, 2013. According to the section prof Arefin is eligible for re-appointment for a further period of four years. Arefin was the first person who completed a full tenure as an unelected VC in the 96 years of history of the university.