KARACHI, July 15: Teachers, including chairpersons of several departments, are concerned about fact that the administrative issues of the University of Karachi are being blown out of all proportion.

A survey conducted by this reporter on the campus shows that senior teachers feel that instead of behaving in a discreet manner the administration is acting in a way that gives the impression that the whole lot of employees at the university is either corrupt or law-breakers.

They maintain that the vice-chancellor should ensure smooth relations between the various stake-holders of the university. “If the chasm of communication between the vice-chancellor and the university staff widens, the academic atmosphere of the university will stand to suffer.”

Despite the commencement of the new semester on Monday, many students stayed away from the university primarily because the point buses did not operate. “In the morning, the official concerned asked the transport section not to ply the point buses as he sensed that something untoward would happen,” said sources, adding that the security personnel, including the rangers, had been deployed at many places.

Some students in the arts lobby attributed thin attendance on Monday to ongoing controversies involving the administration and the staff of the university. “It looks that the administration has developed sharp differences with the staff,” they added.

Not wishing to be identified, a dean poured scorn on the manner the KU administration took some decisions unilaterally, without taking the deans of departments into confidence.

A teacher in the science department said: “The administration should display extra cautiousness while tackling a human-rights issue. In the past a vice-chancellor, who enjoyed the support of a political government, had to leave the post with the change of the government because he was accused of adopting measures that were violative of university rules.”

A senior officer maintained that the university administration should not act like a summary trial body while taking up the cases of employees.

He added that the university administration is being influenced by some people who want to prove that public-sector universities are a den of unlawful elements.

A teacher wondered why the vice-chancellor, who had spent considerable time on his post, and the administration had all of a sudden woken up to corruption, nepotism and finance-saving on the campus. “Why has it taken all this while for them to realize that these evils mar the university’s academic atmosphere?”

A chairperson of a department added that the university administration had failed to take up the cases of corruption and ghost employees on time. He feared that vested interests wanted to induct a vice-chancellor from outside the teachers’ community.

The deadlock and heart-burning could be avoided only when the statutory bodies of the university, including the academic councils, were allowed to meet under prescribed rules on time, said a teacher, adding that the teachers and the administration should avoid going to the press with a view to condemning each other.

A research student had a word of advice for both the administration and the KU staff. “They should stop acting like trade unions. A university has an important role to play and all stake-holders should bear that in mind.” Some teachers also urged the office-bearers of KUTS to ensure smooth academic activities which are in the interest of both the university and the students.