The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Demands for the election of Dhaka University Central Students Union (DUCSU) appears to be resurfacing again among ordinary students after years of pause as the country's premier campus has not seen activities of the crucial student forum for over two decades.

"It appears that the Dhaka University loses its traditional academic character for want of the central students union," said Mamun Ahmed student of economics department.

The ordinary students as well as university authorities, he said, are frequently facing different problems, which could have been settled with a vibrant DUCSU as students unions are supposed to be the most effective academic forum of any university across the world. "The absence of DUCSU has contributed to the rise of unhealthy student politics in the past two decades when muscles instead of intellect dominated the campus," said Nasim Ahmed, a final year student of English department.

Dhaka University saw its last central students union election in late eighties as usual for one-year tenure amid a different political circumstance as the country at that time was witnessing a growing campaign against autocratic rule.

But even after the installation of successive democratic governments, little initiatives were taken to hold the DUCSU polls blaming the "unfavorable campus situation". A number of senior university students said the student organizations backed by major political parties played the role of DUCSU pretending to stand by an ordinary student providing a valuable seat in dormitories in exchange for loyalty to their politics.

"We have seen even a worse scene when a political student organization evict ordinary students from the dormitories to be replaced by non-student hooligans or outside armed cadres," said Zafarullah Sohiel, a student of International Relations Department.

Several teachers of the university agreed that the muscle flexing "cadres" would not have got access to the campus or the halls had the DUCSU was in place to see the problems of the common students. "A central student union or the hall student unions are also needed for the healthy entertainment practices and cultural activities on the campus, of which Dhaka University remained deprived for the past two decades," said Prof Ataur Rahman a senior Professor of Political Science Department.

He recalled the vibrant cultural and extra academic activities like holding sports, debate competitions, dramas and musical festivals on the campus under the auspices of DUCSU and hall student unions when Dhaka University said to have witnessed its golden times despite various difficulties.

"The more dangerous thing is that the absence of an elected student forum like DUCSU leads the student organizations to be unaccountable and as a result instead of mobilizing student supports they tend to dominate the campus with muscle power," he said.

A former Dhaka University student and senate member preferring anonymity said the widely criticized "unhealthy teachers politics" also was encouraged in the absence of the elected students forum.

"The election of DUCSU will definitely will have a positive impact in restoring accountability of teachers as well as the students groups as they won't take the risk of losing popularity through unfair practices," he said.

Analysts said the DUCSU in the past also played a crucial and glorious political role at the time of national transitions like the 1971 Liberation War while in different political scenario it could now play an effective role in shaping the campus atmosphere befitting for the university, once known as the Oxford of the East.

"The current tenure of the caretaker government is an appropriate time to hold a healthy election of DUCSU without political influence," said Shamim Asgar, a student of Political Science Department