Dhaka, Sept. 10 -- At the stroke of midnight, when a university campus should have been blanketed in silence and study lamps, Chittagong University was instead shattered by cries of terror, chaos, and the clanging of makeshift weapons.

At Gate No. 2 of the campus, local residents of Jobra-summoned by announcements over mosque loudspeakers-launched a brutal and organized assault on students. Armed with indigenous weapons, they rained blows on unarmed students whose only "crime" was standing against an act of injustice.

The incident was sparked by a seemingly small episode that revealed the fragility of safety for students: a female student, delayed in returning to her rented accommodation, was verbally abused and physically assaulted by ...