At the cusp of the reopening of universities and on the anniversary of the 2022 nationwide uprising, Iran’s regime has intensified its attacks on the university from different directions. On the one hand, the regime is dismissing “critical” professors and replacing them with aligned elements, or as one academician put it, “artificial injection of fake professors.” On the other hand, Iranian authorities have engaged in the expulsion of many students from universities and filling the vacancies with regime loyalists.
In response to the wave of protests regarding the expulsion of certain critical professors, Mohammad Moghimi, the president of the University of Tehran denied any “expulsion” of professors from the university and simultaneously claimed that some professors have been prevented from working due to “ethical problems and complaints.”
In an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency, published on September 3, Moghimi said that if educational groups at the University of Tehran decide that they do not need the teaching services of a professor, “then the claim of the individual seeking expulsion from the university would be very ridiculous.”
“I am fully aware that the continuation of collaboration with some of these individuals has been prevented due to ethical problems and complaints, but they claim in the media that their collaboration was terminated due to political issues,” Moghimi added.
He did not clarify whether this “complainer” is private or governmental. Additionally, the Iranian regime has used these absurd accusations in numerous cases to silence its critics.
The contradictory claims of the president of the University of Tehran, denying any “expulsion,” are published one day after the Ministry of Science’s spokesperson confirmed the expulsion of professors. Last week, student guild councils also reported the “removal” of seven professors from the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tehran.
The student guild council added that their “removal” from the Faculty of Literature at the University of Tehran was carried out “not in a legal and officially communicated manner, but without prior notice and due to manipulation in course allocation.”
Meanwhile, the regime’s Etemad newspaper, also confirmed the expulsion of these professors in a report last Friday and wrote that the recent wave of expulsions of university students dates back to the beginning of Ebrahim Raisi‘s presidency.
In response to the Etemad report, Ali Shamsipour, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Science, also confirmed the “expulsion” or “suspension” of 58 professors from universities during Raisi’s government. He stated that three of these professors have cases in the judiciary, and seven of them had engaged in “criminal activities” during last year’s nationwide protests.
This official added that out of the total of 58 professors who have been “expelled” or “suspended,” three professors belong to medical universities under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and have no connection to the Ministry of Science. Additionally, 17 of the expelled professors are from private universities and they themselves should be accountable in this regard.
University of Tehran President: No Professors Expelled
In this regard, the President of the University of Tehran claimed in an interview with the semiofficial ILNA news agency, “During my two-year tenure as the university’s manager, we have not had a single case of professor expulsion.”
Moghimi referred to the expelled professors’ self-removal from the university as the “peak of immorality” and accused foreign Persian-language media of spreading these reports, stating that such reports are only raised by “opposition networks and opportunistic individuals.”
In his interview, the President of the University of Tehran repeatedly used the term “expulsion” and did not provide any explanation regarding the “removal, termination of collaboration, or forced retirement” of university professors.
However, Moghimi confirmed the suspension of professors at the University of Tehran but stated that there are only two of them, and their cases have been referred to judicial authorities, and they are currently under suspension until a judicial verdict is issued.
He denied the expulsion of professors from the University of Tehran, just as he had previously denied attempts to suppress protesting students.
In the previous month, the student guild councils considered the admission of members of the Iraqi paramilitary group Hashd al-Shaabi at the University of Tehran as an attempt to suppress the students. However, the President of the University of Tehran described the statement of student activists as “deviant and simplistic.”
The recent wave of expelling university professors in Iran comes at a time when the suppression of Iranian students has continued for months, and many students have faced heavy disciplinary fines and imprisonment due to their participation in nationwide protests.
During last year’s nationwide protests, Iranian universities, including the University of Tehran, were among the main centers of the protests.
On August 28, state-run Etemad newspaper reported that after “great purge of professors,” the regime is trying to change the rules of admission of students to universities “based on political-religious qualifications.” The important tool this year for executing this process will be through the disciplinary committees of the universities. In the next years, different quotas will be applied to the entry of students to universities by evaluation organization after this institution is transferred to the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.
While regime is seeing its power diminish, by putting the blade on the university’s throat, it will deepen its isolation in the society. This is the inevitable path for medieval regime, which sees its existence in conflict with the university. Regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini confirmed this in his hateful statements against the university after the 1979 revolution. Therefore, against the explosive state of the society and the growing revolutionary resistance, such measures will do the regime no service.
