Feature

Freedom in Logic
1st NSTU Debate Festival-2009

Mahabubur Rahman

THE 1st NSTU Debate Festival '09, organized by Noakhali Science and Technology University Debating Society was held in the NSTU campus on 4th August. The moto of the festival was 'Jukti nirvar mukta bishaone amra'. Ten universities and twenty colleges including Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Comilla University, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Daffodil International University, American International University Bangladesh, Jahangirnagar University, Islamic University of Technology, Stamford University and most of the renowned colleges of greater Noakhali took part in the festival. It was the first debate festival in greater Noakhali.

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament encouraged the young to come forward for the truth and lead the country to a greater success. He also mentioned some important points on the significance of debate in our national life. The souvenir of the debate was disclosed at the opening ceremony. It contained articles of Dr. Mahbubul Haque, Moderator CUDS, Prof. M Zahidul Haque, Moderator SAUDS, Rajib Sarker, Assistant Magistrate, and Dr. Zinat Huda Wahid, Moderator Social Science Debating Club DU.

Different models of debate were presented in the festival, which were performed by many skilled debaters of various institutes. The topic of the parliamentary debate was, “Sompod noy sundar sopner ovabei bissho shantir ontoray”. According to parliamentary debate rules, there were two teams comprising three members, one is the government and the other is opposition. The battle between the government and the opposition was very lively and enjoyable to the audience. There is a speaker who conducts the debate house. After argumentation on a given proposal, 'the speaker' and his judge panel take the decision on its acceptance. If the proposal is accepted the government team wins, if not accepted, the opposition wins.

Debate is not always the battle between the teams but sometimes it may provide pure entertainment to the spectators. The topic of the comedy debate was “Valobasa miche asha, bokara bole prem”. The argumentation between the two teams about love was quite entertaining. There was a public speaking competition; “Tomar jonno morte pari….” Shahriar Rimon of FIMS department became the champion of the public speaking competition.

In the closing session of the festival Miss Afsana Mousumi, Assistant Moderator of the NSTUDS was the president. Vice chancellor Dr. Sanjay Kumar Adikary was the chief guest and Mustafijur Rahman, treasurer NSTU, Mominul Haq, registrar NSTU, Javed Hossain, provost Salam Hall, Mehedi Mahmudul Hasan, Chairman FIMS department were the special guests of the closing of the festival. Chief guest Dr. Sanjay Kumar Adikary talked about the importance of knowledge and logic based society; he also said that debaters always have a bright future.

New NSU Campus @ Bashundhara

Rajiv Ashrafi

THE long-awaited Bashundhara campus of North South University has finally been opened to students this semester. As I stepped into the campus, I was amazed by the architectural splendor of the buildings and the overall design. The campus is huge and the first thing students see after entering is the huge courtyard spread out over two levels. Finally, students no longer have to jump over perilous manholes and craters between GMQ and SPZ, but could quite literally moonwalk their way to classes.

Moving on, I saw the bridge between the two academic buildings. As one friend humorously pointed out, the bridge was there to “bridge the gap between the students and the administration,” and in light of recent events in Banani, her statement made sense. Classrooms were much bigger than the ones in Banani where students had to cramp into small, smelly and hot rooms with (mostly) no air conditioning. However, students now have to freeze in arctic temperatures thanks to the efficiency of the new air conditioners.

The campus is still not complete, though, as students, despite having spacious classrooms now have to put up with various noises; laborers also come and go abruptly even in the middle of exams. The new campus has over eight lifts; four of which are functional at the moment. And don't even get me started on the long lines - they are horrendous. On top of that, the lifts have been fitted with irritating voices that announce the opening and closing of the doors. Thankfully they were killed before students staged another riot. Lastly, traffic problems plague the area surrounding the campus.

Despite having so many problems and being incomplete, the new campus is a sight to behold. Starting from the large, well-designed academic buildings to the bridge, everything comes together to form a cohesive unit that may very well be the best campus in the country in a couple of years, or whenever it is completed.