FUUAST VC appointment: Some senate members are unhappy to start the hunt from scratch
They have to go through the process again as the president rejected previous nominations.
KARACHI:
Some members of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology’s senate are making no effort to hide the fact that they are miffed that the eight-month long efforts for appointing a vice chancellor were undone by the President’s letter of objection.
Though the senate met on Friday and decided to start the process from scratch, some teachers vented their anger about the controversy that arose the last time nominations were made. A search committee of nine experts, headed by the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) chairperson, Dr Javaid Laghari, went through a list of 49 names and recommended four people for the post on May 28. The proposed names were: Dr Syed Altaf Hussain, who is the former vice chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University, Prof. Dr Zafar Iqbal, who is the dean of arts at Karachi University, and Dr Moinuddin Ahmed, who is a professor at FUUAST’s botany department.
The senate then met on July 29 and sent three names to President House. But around a week later, the nominations were rejected not only by the President, but HEC’s chairperson as well.
Prof. Seema Naz Siddiqui, an elected teacher representative in the senate, told The Express Tribune on Friday that Dr Laghari had become a controversial figure and should not continue to head the search committee. “But we do not wish to derail the process which has already been delayed for eight months, we had no choice but to accept the university rules and not object to Dr Laghari taking the position again.”
The senate members read the letter during Friday’s meeting but they were not allowed to keep a copy of it, a senate member told The Express Tribune. “According to the university’s rules, the President has the right to reject the names. But on ethical grounds, it is upsetting that the transparent appointment process, which lasted for about eight months, was derailed.”
The senate, however, agreed to reinitiate the process of appointing a vice chancellor and the search committee, which is still headed by Dr Laghari, will issue an advertisement for the post within a week.
FUUAST faculty and even the search committee’s members believe that the HEC chairperson had been duplicitous when he said that all three candidates were not competent for the post though he himself was heading the search committee.
Teachers at the university, however, appeared divided on the subject. The general secretary of FUUAST teachers’ society for the Gulshan-e-Iqbal campus, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Tahiri, said that it was still unclear if the President himself had actually rejected the names. “Clause three of article 12 in university rules states that the President has the right to decide on this matter, not other officials at the President House,” he said. He added that the eight-month long process was “bureaucratically sabotaged” and teachers will file a petition on this matter in the apex court.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2012.
Some members of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Sciences and Technology’s senate are making no effort to hide the fact that they are miffed that the eight-month long efforts for appointing a vice chancellor were undone by the President’s letter of objection.
Though the senate met on Friday and decided to start the process from scratch, some teachers vented their anger about the controversy that arose the last time nominations were made. A search committee of nine experts, headed by the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) chairperson, Dr Javaid Laghari, went through a list of 49 names and recommended four people for the post on May 28. The proposed names were: Dr Syed Altaf Hussain, who is the former vice chancellor of Allama Iqbal Open University, Prof. Dr Zafar Iqbal, who is the dean of arts at Karachi University, and Dr Moinuddin Ahmed, who is a professor at FUUAST’s botany department.
The senate then met on July 29 and sent three names to President House. But around a week later, the nominations were rejected not only by the President, but HEC’s chairperson as well.
Prof. Seema Naz Siddiqui, an elected teacher representative in the senate, told The Express Tribune on Friday that Dr Laghari had become a controversial figure and should not continue to head the search committee. “But we do not wish to derail the process which has already been delayed for eight months, we had no choice but to accept the university rules and not object to Dr Laghari taking the position again.”
The senate members read the letter during Friday’s meeting but they were not allowed to keep a copy of it, a senate member told The Express Tribune. “According to the university’s rules, the President has the right to reject the names. But on ethical grounds, it is upsetting that the transparent appointment process, which lasted for about eight months, was derailed.”
The senate, however, agreed to reinitiate the process of appointing a vice chancellor and the search committee, which is still headed by Dr Laghari, will issue an advertisement for the post within a week.
FUUAST faculty and even the search committee’s members believe that the HEC chairperson had been duplicitous when he said that all three candidates were not competent for the post though he himself was heading the search committee.
Teachers at the university, however, appeared divided on the subject. The general secretary of FUUAST teachers’ society for the Gulshan-e-Iqbal campus, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Tahiri, said that it was still unclear if the President himself had actually rejected the names. “Clause three of article 12 in university rules states that the President has the right to decide on this matter, not other officials at the President House,” he said. He added that the eight-month long process was “bureaucratically sabotaged” and teachers will file a petition on this matter in the apex court.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 21st, 2012.