While we profess to celebrate diversity and academic freedom, we now operate under policies that directly attack both. Repeatedly, we see the University and the government say they want to do something, while actively doing the opposite. Last December, the University of Alabama suspended two student magazines, one with a largely female student readership and the other with a largely Black student readership. Zara Cheek Zara Cheek '28 is an Opinion Columnist and a student in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Her fortnightly column, Big Red, White and You, focuses on the intersection of campus issues, diversity, and American politics.

Photo: BSSKHULNA, Jan 28, 2026 (BSS)- Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General and parliamentary candidate for Khulna-5 (Dumuria-Phultala) constituency Mia Golam Parwar today said good governance cannot be achieved by electing corrupt and dishonest individuals. Addressing a series of election rallies, Golam Parwar said the political parties which have ruled the country since independence failed to establish justice, ensure good governance and provide public security. The Jamaat leader said lasting peace, justice and stability would remain elusive unless honest, God-fearing and people-oriented leadership comes to power. Calling for peaceful coexistence beyond party affiliations, Golam Parwar urged voters to rise above personal and party sentiments and cast their votes in the greater interest of the nation. Earlier, he addressed election rallies as the chief guest at various locations, including Atlia Union and 18 Mile Bazar in Dumuria upazila under the Khulna-5 constituency.

BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman-File PhotoDHAKA, Jan 28, 2026 (BSS) – The US-based TIME magazine in its latest issue published today called BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman the “clear front runner” in the upcoming February 12 elections as it carried an analysis ahead of the polls. The TIME interviewer spoke to Rahman at the garden of his family home, “resplendent with bougainvillea and marigolds” when the new BNP chairman gave his first interview since returning home after 17 years in exile. but if you ask me to do something, I try my best,” Rahman told the magazine. The TIME wrote to his supporters, Rahman was a “persecuted redeemer returning to save his beleaguered homeland” while he “insists he’s the right person to heal his riven nation”. TIME wrote Rahman appeared “soft-spoken and introverted, preferring to listen rather than hold court” while his favorite pastime in London was strolling around leafy Richmond Park, “lost in his thoughts, or reading history books”.

Zhao’s Hamnet opens with Agnes sleeping in the forest moments before she meets William. As may be discerned from the subtitle of Maggie O’Farrell’s original novel (Hamnet: A Novel of the Plague), the couple’s young son, Hamnet, dies while William is away in London. Emotional manipulation alone is not necessarily detractive or a malicious thing for a film to do, but overt emotional manipulation is distracting. In other words, we needn’t see the man behind the curtain, and there are moments in Hamnet where we do. My qualm with the emotional manipulation charge is that most of the film’s indelible emotional moments don’t come across as heavy-handed at all.

Jungle Salimpur, a sprawling 3,100-acre expanse of government-owned hills in Sitakunda upazila near Chittagong city, has evolved into a fortified enclave of illegal settlements and criminal syndicates. On January 19, a RAB-7 team entered Jungle Salimpur to arrest armed criminals, including gang leader Yasin Mia, during a BNP office inauguration. After the August 5, 2024 political shift, infighting escalated over land control and illicit trades, with recent beatings of RAB personnel. Local Journalists admitted that political patronage is a key reason the government has failed to reclaim Jungle Salimpur, where at least 20,000 residents represent a significant voting bloc. Chittagong Additional SP Russell Mia noted at a press conference that Jungle Salimpur hosts more rootless migrants from various regions than locals, making mass arrests inevitable in any raid.

A four-year-old child who fell into an abandoned hole dug for a deep tube well in Raozan upazila of Chittagong was recovered dead on Wednesday evening after a four-hour rescue operation. The child, identified as Mezbah Uddin, went missing around 4:30pm after falling into the hole in Joynagar village of Kadulpur union. Fire Service personnel recovered him at about 8:30pm and took him to Raozan Upazila Health Complex, where the on-duty doctor declared him dead. Family members and local residents said the hole for a government deep tube well had been dug four to five years ago about 30–40 feet from their home, but the tube well was never installed. According to the Fire Service, the child fell at least 20 feet into the hole while playing in the afternoon.

Photo: BSSRAJSHAHI, Jan 28, 2026 (BSS)- Ahead of the upcoming 13th NationalParliamentary Election, Deputy Commissioner (DC) and Returning Officer (RO)Afia Akhtar has stated that the administration will maintain strictmonitoring at every stage of election campaigning. She said there is no alternative to strict compliance with the election codeof conduct in order to ensure a free, fair, and acceptable election. Returning Officer Afia Akhtar said that all forms of election campaigning-whether on the ground or online-fall under the election code of conduct. Election camps, billboards, posters, and campaigning on social media must allfollow prescribed rules, including providing information and obtaining priorapproval. At the end of the meeting, the candidates assured that they would conducttheir election activities in accordance with the administration's directives.

Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman spoke at a view-exchange meeting during his visit to Patuakhali. Photo: ISPRDHAKA, Jan 28, 2026 (BSS) - The Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman today put special emphasis on performing forces' duties through professionalism, impartiality, discipline, patience and citizen-friendly behavior. During the visits, the Army Chief evaluated the overall law and order situation and inspected the army personnel deployed under the 'In Aid to the Civil Power' centering the next general elections along with the referendum 2026. He observed the activities of the deployed army personnel on the spot and provided necessary directions and exchanged views with the civilian administration. Subsequently, a similar view-exchange-meeting was held at the Khulna Divisional Commissioner's Office, where inter-institutional coordination and overall security management were discussed to ensure a peaceful, impartial and fair conduct of the upcoming JS polls.

File PhotoDHAKA, Jan 28, 2026 (BSS) - Education Adviser Prof Dr C R Abrar today called for strengthening combined and integrated initiatives to preserve and promote Bangladesh's tradition, culture and handicrafts. "We have to create an environment where national heritage can develop spontaneously," he said. Prof Abrar said the international recognition of Bangladesh's traditional handloom industries-particularly Tangail tant saree and Jamdani-was the result of collective efforts. The dialogue discussed in detail issues related to the ownership of Tangail handloom, community rights, branding, market development, as well as the existing challenges and possible solutions of the handloom industry. Senior officials from different ministries and agencies, researchers, handloom artists, entrepreneurs, designers, and representatives of civil society attended the programme.

Pinky was born on October 9,1934, in Lebanon,Pennsylvania, raised by her mother, Mable Markley, and her foster mother, Veronica Fox. Pinky attended East Stroudsburg University where in theater she met her first husband, Philip O’Neil. With Pinky’s second marriage to Karl Seiler, she gained a daughter and filled her life with dancing and travel. Pinky is survived by her three sons, Jack (Vicki), Scott (Christine), and Shawn (Annie) O’Neil, her stepdaughter Beth Seiler (Shea), 6 grandchildren, 3 step-grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren, and 3 step great-grandchildren. Pinky is predeceased by her husband Karl Seiler and sister Virginia Fees.

Photo: BSSRANGPUR, Jan 28, 2026 (BSS) – Rapid Action Battalion (RAB)-13 in separate drives seized huge contraband drugs and arrested five presumed drug dealers from different places of Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts on Tuesday night. The seized contraband drugs included 98 bottles of phensedyl-like Fairdeal and seven bottles of ESKuf and 200 pieces of Tapentadol tablets, a press release said here this afternoon. The arrestees were identified as Apon Chandra Roy, 26, and Narayan Chandra Das, 42, of Hatibandha upazila in Lalmonirhat and Md Mokchedul Islam Parvez, 49, of Saidpur upazila and Md Dulu Mia, 36, and Md Nuruzzaman, 33, of Jaldhaka upazila in Nilphamari districts. After filing three separate cases in these incidents, the elite force handed over the arrested persons and seized drugs to the concerned police stations of Lalmonirhat, Gaibandha and Nilphamari districts for further legal action.

BNP Chairman Tarique Rahman is set to visit Bogra on Thursday after a gap of 19 years. Supporters are eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse of him, while organizers expect a turnout of more than 1,00,000 people at his public rally. At around 8pm, he will speak at a public rally at the historic Altafunnesa Playground in Bogra. Sources said that during his stay in Bogra, Tarique Rahman will visit Baitur Rahman Central Mosque, Shaheed Ziaur Rahman Children’s Hospital in the Dattabari area of the city, and the district BNP office. In the upcoming national parliamentary election, Tarique Rahman is contesting from the Bogra-6 (Sadar) constituency.

A local leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has died after being injured in a clash between supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP in Jhenaigati upazila of Sherpur district on Wednesday evening. Rezaul Karim, general secretary of the Sreebardi Upazila unit, succumbed to his injuries around 9:30pm while on the way to Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, said Sherpur Additional Superintendent of Police Md Mizanur Rahman Bhuiyan. Jamaat candidate for Sherpur-3 constituency Mohammad Nuruzzaman Badal said Rezaul Karim was seriously injured in the clash at Jhenaigati Bazar area earlier in the evening. Following the incident, the district unit of Jamaat-e-Islami brought out a protest rally in Sherpur town. The clash broke out between BNP and Jamaat supporters around 3pm over seating arrangement during a manifesto-reading program, leaving at least 30 people injured, said witnesses.

Ahead of the upcoming 13th National Parliamentary Election and Referendum 2026, a manifesto-reading programme of the contesting candidates of Rajshahi-6 constituency was held on Tuesday at the Binodpur School field. The event was jointly organized by the administrations of Charghat and Bagha upazilas and was presided over by Assistant Returning Officer and Bagha Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Shammi Akhter. Candidates representing four political parties took part in the programme and read out their election manifestos from the same stage. They also committed to conducting their election campaigns in strict compliance with the Election Commission’s code of conduct. Rajshahi-6 constituency comprises Charghat and Bagha upazilas.

Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on Wednesday said Bangladesh has earned an unenviable reputation as a “world champion in fraud,” citing widespread document forgery that has damaged the country’s global credibility. Visas are fake, passports are fake,” Yunus said. “I have seen cases where people applied for visas using fake certificates. Highlighting the role of youth, Yunus said the mass uprising of 2024 had opened new possibilities for Bangladesh. Referring to a past internet shutdown, Yunus said it had triggered widespread outrage among young people and played a significant role in mobilising protests.