AS 1 wrote down, rather as I typed out the words passing elouda . I looked out and found a dull sky staring at me. There ia news of another low forming in the Bay. The look of the sky confirms this. My passing clouds, then, is to be taken In Its metaphorical sense only. They, these passing clouds, will have no more than a casual. an accidental connection with the Tow' that has formed In the Bay and that had brought this dull, windy and rainy day. Monsoon. Incidentally, has come this time at least two weeks too soon. According to meteorological records of over hundred years, we should expect monsoon to break In this part of the sub continent on or about 8th June. My source of information, The Statesman (of Calcutta) in one of its issues, quarter of a century ago. I reproduce this as a piece of timeless data

My theme today Is the cam pus scenario. Campus scene would have been alright but I succumbed to the common temptation of using a vogueword, a journalese, sacrificing rightness in favour of a fashionable word. Now that 1 have used It, as I confess inadvertently. I will not recall it. Let it stay where it is and let me proceed with my theme.

The campus scene, I hope everybody will agree, ia causing concern. There have been clashes on the Dhaka University campus. The latest happening, the physical assault of a political leader by a group of angry students, in the presence of, and despite resistance from, the Vice-Chancellor and a good number of other political leaders, who had all come at the invitation of the Vice-Chancellor to participate in a discussion, is but yet another

evidence of how far things have gone wrong with the cU mate on the campus.

Al Chittagong, the climate had been charged with violence and anxiety even before the tragic incident of December 22, and has remained volatile ever since. The univer sity was closed by a Syndicate decision after the clash In which one student died. It has not reopened after that, because. sometime ago. as the university was about to reopen, Instructions from Dhaka not to do so. forestalled reopening. This was not taken kindly by many teachers apd students and the advice came under at tack as an unfortunate interference tn the affairs of the university which is an au tonomous body. True, the gov ernment does not usually pass orders on a university either on the question of opening or of closing, but this has not been strictly followed 1n recent years. Sometimes directly. more often indirectly by playing a devious hand, the government of the day has interfered In such matters.

At Kushtia. the temporary abode of the Islam! University, the story is a little different: not a conflict between student groups but between the administration and the rest. It may not be as simple as this but the outcome is the same. The university Is not functioning at the time I write this. Some time ago, the Vice-Chancellor was the object of attack by a rightist group of political parties who had discovered In him an enemy out to destroy the idea of an Islamic University. The Idea, It should be mentioned, was the one cherished by this group. It meant virtually, a theological institute, glorified with the name and style of a university. Because the admin tstratlon headed by the Vice-Chancellor, would not subscribe to this view and because some of the actions of the authorities clearly Indicated a

move toward the idea of a university as it is generally understood all the world over, the rightist forces started a campaign of vilification per sonally against the Vlcek^han ceifor In that vilification cam paign, I too became a target as I happened to hold the portfolio of education in the Interim Government. I was Identified as one having something to do with al) the 'misdeeds' being done at Kushtia Imagination had run riot but we maintained a silence over this most unjust insinuation.

At Jahangirnagar. the university. despite grave provoca-

tions, has remained open. The problem here Is of a more domestic kind but the danger of clashes, actual and possible, remains. There is an uneasy peace which fs so fragile that teachers have rejected the idea of student union elections for which preparations were at an advanced stage.

I thought that this was about all 1 had to say about our disturbed campuses. But the latest news brings further stones of woe. BAU. our only university of agriculture, located at Mymenslngh, has hastily been closed on the eruption of armed hostilities between two groups of students.' Students have been asked to vacate halls of residence Judging from the report as I read it in today's Daily Star, the clash follows the familiar pattern, and the groups involved have ranged themselves in the now familiar pattern of JCD versus others minus Shlbir. The role of the last named group fs not clear and it may not be a factor at Mymenslngh.

Though everything is not clear about the conflicts and clashes on our campuses, one thing is quite clear : the honeymoon days of the antl-Ershad movement are over. Differences that were burled in the Interest of that movement are surfacing again. The pretexts and excuses vary from place to place but the truth remains the same for all the cases: lack of understanding on some basic issues which divides the political parties at the national level and which continues to guide the conduct of the student wings of these parties. The unity that these wings had forged despite their senior associates has all but crumbled. This is full of diMs-

trous tanpbcatlons and thia has been underlined by the ugly incident that ha^wrwd the the Vice-Chancellor of Dhaka University. I do not think that this could hwe happened with APSU stm functioning.

The divisive forces are again at work, both outside the universities and within, destroying the peace and harmony of these Institutions where leadership for the future is nursed and tended. The universities must be saved if we wish to protect our future. But are the universities ready and capable of being saved, as they are now constituted and managed? The issue is a sensitive one and we have waited all these years for the moment when the question can be addressed, without risking the autonomy of the universities We had resisted proposals for reform, doubting as we did the honesty and credibility of the people proposing reforms. With the return of democracy and the which win, hopefully, be an-swerable to an elected Parliament, the stage has been set to ask some very uncomfortable questions which we have deliberately evaded in the past, and of which I have already given some indication. I have simply raised the issue and I hope to return to it when 1 write next.

Chancellor of the Jahangtrnagar University. Prof Siddiqui recently served as the Adviser on Education

Actbig President. He has now boon appointed as the Convenor of a

enquire Into the problems of

Prof Siddiqui will be writing this column. -Passing Clouds', regularly for The Daily Star