SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project investigates and reports attacks on higher education with the aim of raising awareness, generating advocacy, and increasing protection for scholars, students, and academic communities. Starting July 1, 2026, SAR no longer publishes reports for the incidents that it records. SAR continues to monitor and record incidents that will be used in the annual Free to Think report. This page provides a record of incidents reported up to that date. Learn more about the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project.

Date of Incident: July 16, 2024

Attack Types: Other

Institution(s):Begum Rokeya University

Region & Country:Southern Asia | Bangladesh

New or Ongoing:New Incident

On July 16, 2024, anti-quota student protesters set fire to the residence of the vice chancellor of Begum Rokeya University (BRUR).

The attack by students was prompted by the death of BRUR student Abu Sayed, one of the organizers of the quota reform movement, who was killed after being shot by police earlier that day (see report). At the time that his residence was set on fire, the vice chancellor was inside the building, along with his family and several other university staff members. Police helped those inside leave the building.

In addition to setting fire to the vice chancellor’s house, the students also set fire to several university vehicles, along with a students’ residential hall.

The following day, on July 17, city authorities announced that BRUR would be indefinitely closed.

The violence occurred against the backdrop of the quota reform movement, a set of widespread student protests that began on the campus of the University of Dhaka, after a June 5, 2024 ruling by the High Court of Bangladesh reinstating a quota system – previously abolished in 2018 – which allocated government jobs to certain favored groups. Under the system, 30% of government positions went to people who had fought in Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan and their family members, creating a shortage of sought-after positions for others. The protests ultimately led to the resignation of Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina and the establishment of a new interim government.

Scholars at Risk are concerned about violent and destructive attacks on campus, apparently intended to prevent the functioning of a higher education institution. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such actions undermine academic freedom and democratic society generally.

Sources:
*SAR identified this incident in data made publicly available by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED)
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/death-student-brur-vc-residence-vandalised-torched-3658566
https://www.observerbd.com/news.php?id=481546
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/352418/rmp-commissioner-6-cases-to-be-filed-over-attacks
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/352387/brur-closed-indefinitely-students-asked-to-vacate