29 Student Organizations Criticize Discrimination in Activities of Student Groups

In a letter to the President of Iran, 29 reformist student organizations criticized the numerous discriminations between "power-aligned organizations" and "progressive organizations," including the "deprivation" of reformist groups from holding meetings. They called on Hassan Rouhani's government to assist students in achieving their "legitimate demands." The student organizations stated that the reopening of Islamic student associations during the eleventh government "promised to correct past incorrect practices in universities," but after three years of Rouhani's administration, "authentic student organizations are even deprived of holding a single brainstorming session across the country." According to the letter, despite the "permits and ethical promises" made, the "betrayal of the officials of the Ministry of Science" has prevented these organizations from holding meetings. On June 9, ILNA reported that a brainstorming session of over 40 reformist student organizations in Tehran, scheduled for June 6 and 7, was canceled before it took place. Secretaries of some of these student organizations cited "lack of cooperation" from the Ministry of Science officials and the failure to allocate a hall for the event as the reasons for the cancellation. In this context, the 29 student organizations accused the Ministry of Science of providing "maximum facilities for power-aligned organizations" while withholding "minimum facilities" from "progressive, transformative, critical, and reformist" groups. The letter emphasized that students "will certainly not be confined within the cage of intellectual tyranny and will create new paths if the way is blocked, and will not rest in their pursuit of justice." The signatories stressed that "it is the ethical and legal duty of the government to assist students in achieving their legitimate demands." Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, had repeatedly promised during his election campaign and presidency to support the political and cultural activities of students and to distance universities from a "security atmosphere." In contrast, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has urged university administrators to seriously prevent academic centers from becoming what he called "a playground for political movements." The activities of student organizations and the issuance of permits for some new organizations were among the reasons for the impeachment and dismissal of Reza Faraji Dana, the former Minister of Science, on August 20, 2014. In recent months, reports have also emerged regarding crackdowns on the political and cultural activities of students at universities. Previously, in February 2016, 813 student publication activists had written a letter to the President of Iran, asking Rouhani to issue a "decisive order" to higher education officials to prevent the "growing trend of illegal crackdowns" on these publications.