::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

On Campus

Buying instead of borrowing
A few days ago, I came to Dhaka with my uncle to visit my cousin who studies at a private university here. My cousin asked for money from my uncle. When my uncle asked him why he needed it, my cousin said he had to buy books. My uncle got mad at my cousin for having to buy books each semester. Didn't the university have a library, he asked? My cousin said that they did but that it did not have enough books and that teachers suggest that students buy most of their books. My uncle said that it is not possible for students to buy all their books. My cousin pays a 500 taka library fee each semester and the library should have a good collection, my uncle said. Or else students should inform the authorities about the shortage in and lack of good books so that they could do something about it.

Libraries are stores of knowledge and I don't understand how it is possible for a renowned university to not have a good library. All universities should have good libraries and not force their students -- most of them from middle-class families with modest means -- to buy too many books that they cannot afford.

Toy Basepara, Jessore

Food for Dogs
A couple of days ago, while I was eating at our canteen, a student commented on the food, saying it was not fit for humans but dogs and foxes. This is exactly how I have felt ever since becoming a resident of this dormitory and I think most other students feel the same about the food served at Dhaka University. But being a resident of Mohsin Hall, I'll limit my comments to this particular dormitory. The quality as well as quantity of the food is extremely poor and very unhygienic. Most of the canteen boys are under 15. Many students suffer from jaundice and stomach diseases because of the unhygienic food. But the hall authorities take no initiative to improve the quality of the food or the environment of the canteen. And if general students complain to the canteen manager about the food, he says that students belonging to the various political parties don't pay for the food and so these losses must be offset. Provosts come and provosts go but there is no change. Meanwhile, we continue to eat the food of dogs and foxes.

KZ Mohsin Hall Dhaka University

A home for Vagabonds
We are proud of our big library, which is a great place to study. People from around the city visit our library. But it has many problems. Many drug addicts, vagabonds and troublemakers come to the library regularly and disturb the students by making noise. A couple of days ago, when I went to the washroom, I saw a man injecting himself with drugs. I was offended and asked him to leave. He got very angry and started shouting and swearing at me. I complained to the library authorities but with no effect. Some vagabonds even pass their nights inside the library as if it is their home. If this continues, the library will cease to be a library and be a home for vagabonds instead.

Biplob Debnath DU