The alumni hosted a luncheon for Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah, the vice chancellor of their alma mater, at Chandni Resturant, in Newark, Calif., Jun. 22. His wife, Sabiha, accompanied him at the event.

During a brief interaction with the VC at the luncheon, we discussed the contributions of Aligarh alumni as leaders in other countries, his brother’s efforts to boost the arts irrespective of borders and when I mentioned that I had visited my late father’s former place of residence at AMU named Mumtaz House, he lamented that the current conditions of all the dormitories was not good and that he was seeking assistance in funding for their repair and upgrading. He also mentioned that he had invited the Aga Khan and Prince Charles to pay a visit to the campus.

The formal event started in Aligarh tradition with the recitation from the Holy Quran by Afzal Khan. Emcee for the afternoon and local AMU luminary Shaheer Khan next said that this was the first time that the organization had hosted an AMU vice chancellor and welcomed the community present, some of who had come from as far away as Sacramento.

After thanking donors who supported the efforts of the Alumni Association and the Aligarh Education Endowment Fund, Shaheer introduced the vice chancellor, who came to the stage and received a plaque on behalf of the association, presented by Nihal Khan. Shahla Khan also presented a bouquet of flowers to  the chancellor’s wife, Sabiha Shah. That set the stage for the VC’s speech.

He said that the job of being a vice chancellor was a thankless one. “It is the toughest I have held,” he commented, generating quite a few smiles in the audience; especially since he is a former military man. “I accepted the job as a mission,” he added. “My mission was to pull AMU out of the trough in which it has descended,” he said. He added that his mission was to make AMU a top university in India within two years. He said that he was going to turn the University around so that its graduates can meet the new demands of both the market and the nation.

Shah said that he faced three immediate issues: student indiscipline, intra-religious (not communal) and regional friction on campus, and lastly faculty infighting. He added that these problems were difficult but were not insurmountable. He said that he is looking to add more new and qualified faculty at AMU.

He said that he was a liberal Muslim and he wanted AMU to be a liberal-secular institution but primarily for the Muslims. “It is a secular institution, primarily for the Millat as Sir Syed wanted it, and we are going to keep it that way,” he said. He added that the focus should remain on “modern-scientific education,” something that unfortunately was not being provided. He said that AMU needs to move beyond the blackboard-and-chalk era into the computer age. He added that the year 2020 will bring on the university centenary and the plan should be to make it a memorable one, remembered all over the country since it is an institution of national importance. He also said that unfortunately the university had a setback on its minority character status and that he would focus on getting it restored.

The vice chancellor said that foreign dignitary visits to the campus have dried up mainly due to our own fault. “It was the fault of the students misbehaving and rebelling against visitors but they do not know what colossal damage they did to our reputation.” He said that will have to change and that some important foreign dignitaries have already accepted his invitation to visit AMU when they visited India next.

Shah dwelled a great deal on the need to improve the facilities at AMU especially the housing which is beginning to resemble a slum. He added that this was one of the main reasons why foreign student numbers have declined dramatically. He stressed the modernizing of the existing facilities and the building of new ones on campus especially for female students. The restoration of the horse-riding club and adding a golf course (The VC is an avid golfer) at AMU were already on the cards. He said that AMU should produce well-rounded graduates.

On entrance standards for AMU he said that all aspiring students should pass an entrance exam (not just for engineering and medical students). He also added that foreign languages, including Chinese and Hebrew need to be taught on campus. He also encouraged AMU students to consider training for and joining India’s defense services.

To conclude, Lt. Gen.(Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah expressed pride in Aligarh Muslim University alumni all over the world and hoped that they could assist him in his mission to build the campus infrastructure in whatever way they can. He added that he was also seeking the assistance from the Aga Khan Foundation for this effort.

The vice chancellor also took questions after his speech and was presented a book on the Taj Mahal by author-photographer Maqsood Ul Haque.

The event concluded with a presentation of Aligarh focused poetry by Khalid Siddiqui titled “Green Day.”