A student has alleged that the provost of Sir AF Rahman Hall at Dhaka University verbally instructed six students to vacate a room for the hall council’s VP or GS.
According to the provost, however, he cannot compel the students to move if they do not agree.
The hall VP stated that they merely “made a proposal.”
The complaining student also claimed that the provost accused the students living in the room of staying there “illegally.”
Most rooms in AF Rahman Hall accommodate eight students each, while two rooms house fewer students.
Mahmud Ridwan, a resident of Room 318, told the Dhaka Tribune that on Sunday morning, the provost summoned six people from their room to his office and told them “they would need to vacate this room.”
When they asked why, the provost said it was a room “for the VP-GS” and that this was “an AF Rahman Hall tradition that has been going on for a long time.”
Ridwan added: “Now, if only two people are allowed to stay in a room meant for six, that is obviously discrimination.” He also said the hall provost accused them of staying in the room “illegally.”
AF Rahman Hall Provost Quazi Mahfujul Hoque Supan explained that Room 318 has two partitions. When he asked the students how many people lived in one partition, they said six. “Then I inquired whether anyone was staying there illegally,” he said.
He added: “In the first hall council meeting, a complaint was raised that students gathering in the VP and GS’s room were disrupting other students’ studies. So a proposal was put forward to house the VP-GS and other members separately.”
He said he informed the Room 318 students that if they wanted to change rooms, they could be given a room of their choice. However, if the students did not agree, changing rooms was not possible—as provost, he could not force them to leave.
“If the students had agreed, each room would have been allotted to three people,” he added.
AF Rahman Hall VP Rafiqul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune that they did not request “single seats,” but rather “proposed” to the provost that the VP and GS be transferred to these two-person rooms.
“The provost said that if the students in that room agreed to move to another room, we could move in there,” he said.
Explaining the reason for requesting a room change, he said many students come to them daily with various problems, and the room in question was originally built for the VP-GS.
“We only made a proposal—we never said we must be given the room,” he added.
