DU syndicate divided over naming building
The Dhaka University (DU) administration has become divided over naming a to-be-constructed building of University Medical Centre.
The building is supposed to be named after a top industrialist of the country, as per the decision of university engineering office.
University Vice Chancellor Md Akhtaruzzaman and a syndicate member, seeking anonymity, told The Daily Star that the decision on naming the building was taken in the last syndicate meeting.
Meanwhile, Pro-VC Muhammad Samad and two other syndicate members said no concrete decisions were taken, rather it was only discussed at the meeting.
On February 28, a proposal was placed at the syndicate meeting to decide on whether a newly constructed building of the University Medical Centre will be named after the industrialist or not.
This correspondent spoke to six syndicate members including the VC. Of them, three members said the agenda was "only discussed and yet to be finalised" while two others said the decision was finalised, and one declined to comment.
The VC said, "The proposal was finalised as the majority of members supported it."
Eleven days after the meeting, chief engineer of the university Abul Kalam Sikder issued a letter to the businessman to take further steps in this regard.
The letter also stated that the engineering office gave permission to construct the building and name it after the businessman, who is also an alumnus of DU.
Pro-VC of administration, Prof Samad on Match 14 wrote to the VC opposing the decision and opined that the names of martyred teachers of the University should be prioritised.
"It was a table agenda which was suddenly placed in the meeting. I opposed the decision and some other syndicate members supported me. The meeting ended without any final decision and we expected that a unanimous and final decision will be taken in the following meeting," reads the letter.
Referring to the letter issued by the chief engineer, Professor Samad that the permission was given without following due regulations.
Two other members of the syndicate, Professor Hasanuzzaman and Professor M Humayun Kabir, echoed Professor Samad.
Sources inside the administration said, through a letter to the university, the businessman had expressed his desire to have a building named after him on the campus.
In the letter, he said he would bear the expenses of constructing a four-storey building under the condition of having the entire medical centre named after him.
However, the authorities asked him to sponsor a six-storey building in the university and only have that named after him.
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