FUUAST faculty vows to oppose bureaucratic appointment of VC

4-month delay in appointing new vice chancellor for FUUAST has lead faculty to believe a bureaucratic appointment.

KARACHI:

The unexplained four-month delay in appointing a new vice chancellor for Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology (FUUAST) is leading the faculty members to suspect that a bureaucratic appointment might be under way.

When the ex-vice chancellor of FUUAST, Prof. Dr Muhammad Qaiser, took charge as the vice chancellor of Karachi University on February 10, a search committee was formed to find suitable candidates for the coveted post. The committee had recommended four names on May 28, after which a letter was also sent to President House on June 5 to call a meeting of the senate to finalise the recommendations.

“There was, however, absolute silence from the President House which gave way to rumours about evading the search committee for a bureaucratic appointment of renowned poet Iftikhar Arif,” said the general secretary of teachers’ association, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Tahiri. “This will be the equivalent of throwing five-month efforts of the committee into a dustbin.”

On Thursday, FUUAST’s teachers’ association of the Gulshan campus convened a meeting under the presidency of Prof. Javed Iqbal. The teachers were determined that they will oppose any move by the bureaucracy if it tries to undermine the appointment process.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2012.