DHAKA — Students at Dhaka University’s Rokeya Hall and Shamsun Nahar Hall said they were tagged as Shibir activists after objecting to five hours of loud music and instruments at a cultural program held at the Teacher-Student Center.
The program, organized by the cultural group Joydhwani to mark the Nabanna harvest festival, began at 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21, and was still going on at the time of reporting. Students from the two halls expressed their dissatisfaction on social media because of the sustained loud noise.
Around 10:30 p.m., about 50 to 60 students walked toward the TSC carrying brooms. When they asked the organizers to lower the volume of the sound boxes, one of the organizers tagged them as members of the Islami Chhatra Shibir, the students said.
Students said the continuous loud noise in the TSC area had made it difficult to stay in their halls for the past several days.
DU student Nasreen Akhter said: “They have been playing music so loudly for the past three days that it has become impossible to stay in the room. Last night I could clearly hear the noise from my room until 11:30 p.m. If you have exams, you cannot study, and it gives me a headache. I had thought the situation would change at least after Aug. 5, but it is still the same.”
Shamsun Nahar Hall student Niyon Moni said: “When we requested that the program’s sound be brought to a tolerable level, during the discussion one of the organizers, who is a student of Rokeya Hall, tagged us as ‘foul Shibir.’ At one point she even grabbed my friend Momo’s hand. The proctor has assured us that the previous notice will be enforced by Saturday.”
Sadia Hossain Aishi said: “How shameless the Joydhwani program is when people are suffering trauma on a day like today, and they are still playing music after 10 p.m. When we ask them to stop, we are the ones being called Shibir.”
Shamsun Nahar Hall Students Union General Secretary Samia Masud Mom said: “They tagged us as ‘foul Shibir’ for asking them to lower the concert sound at the TSC. We are talking about a compromise, and they are coming back and tagging us instead.”
On Dec. 8, the proctor’s office issued a notice completely banning the loud use of speakers, microphones and car horns on campus in consideration of the problems faced by women students of Rokeya Hall and Shamsun Nahar Hall.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report