KU teachers and administration still at war over Malik’s degree
307 faculty members sign petition to revert decision to award Malik with an honorary doctorate degree.
KARACHI:
Out of the 550 faculty members at the University of Karachi (KU), 307 signed a petition to revert the university’s decision to award Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik with an honorary doctorate degree.
The KU Teachers Guild and faculty members launched a three-day campaign and plan to submit the petition to the chancellor, syndicate and Chief Justice of Pakistan. While talking to The Express Tribune, the pro-vice chancellor Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi said that the chancellor and vice-chancellor had the authority to award an honorary degree to whoever they wanted. The guild’s general secretary Dr Shakeel Farooqui, however disagreed with Kazmi’s statement and said that the chancellor and vice-chancellor had presented three candidates for an honorary doctorate and they had been rejected by the syndicate. Meanwhile, more than 60 members of the faculty have asked the KU teachers society to hold an emergency general body meeting and demand that Malik’s degree should be taken back.
Applied chemistry professor Dr Riaz Ahmed said that it was now mandatory for the teachers society president to call a meeting in the next 24 hours. He added that if the meeting was held, then the degree would be taken back. “This is not a joke, the degree has been given to a man of questionable integrity,” he said. A blog for KU alumni has also been launched by the Teachers Guild - it was dubbed ‘ARM PhD’ for Abdul Rehman Malik’s PhD.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2011.
Out of the 550 faculty members at the University of Karachi (KU), 307 signed a petition to revert the university’s decision to award Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik with an honorary doctorate degree.
The KU Teachers Guild and faculty members launched a three-day campaign and plan to submit the petition to the chancellor, syndicate and Chief Justice of Pakistan. While talking to The Express Tribune, the pro-vice chancellor Dr Shahana Urooj Kazmi said that the chancellor and vice-chancellor had the authority to award an honorary degree to whoever they wanted. The guild’s general secretary Dr Shakeel Farooqui, however disagreed with Kazmi’s statement and said that the chancellor and vice-chancellor had presented three candidates for an honorary doctorate and they had been rejected by the syndicate. Meanwhile, more than 60 members of the faculty have asked the KU teachers society to hold an emergency general body meeting and demand that Malik’s degree should be taken back.
Applied chemistry professor Dr Riaz Ahmed said that it was now mandatory for the teachers society president to call a meeting in the next 24 hours. He added that if the meeting was held, then the degree would be taken back. “This is not a joke, the degree has been given to a man of questionable integrity,” he said. A blog for KU alumni has also been launched by the Teachers Guild - it was dubbed ‘ARM PhD’ for Abdul Rehman Malik’s PhD.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2011.