CU teacher’s promotion suspended in face of student protest

Chittagong University authorities yesterday suspended the promotion process of a Sanskrit professor in the face of a student protest on campus.

Dr Kushal Baran Chakraborty, an assistant professor at the Sanskrit department, was being considered for a promotion to the post of associate professor.

As part of the process, he was supposed to be interviewed by a university board at the vice chancellor's office at 3:00pm yesterday.

Before the scheduled meeting, a group of students, opposing his promotion, locked the main entrance of the administrative building.

They alleged that the teacher was an accused in an attempted murder case and an accomplice of the previous fascist regime.

Ashiqur Rahman, a leader of the Students Against Discrimination, claimed that they were protesting the administration's decision to arrange a promotion board for Dr Kushal despite there being allegations against him.

"When we attempted to meet the vice chancellor, we were told that we could not enter without Dr Kushal's permission. This alone raised serious concerns. It proves that the current administration does not believe in the ideals of the July movement."

After around three hours, the agitating students withdrew the protest when the administration announced that the promotion board for Dr Kushal was suspended.

Contacted, Dr Kushal Chakraborty said, "The allegations brought by students against me are completely baseless. I was not involved in any criminal offence. It seems someone is instigating the students."

Speaking on the matter, CU Pro-VC (Academic) Prof Dr Shamim Uddin said, "A university board was scheduled to meet to consider the promotion of Dr Kushal Chakraborty. When students began protesting against his promotion, saying he was named in an attempted murder case, we decided to suspend the board meeting."