Aref: Criticism of the Security Atmosphere in Universities is a Common Statement of Student Organizations

The head of the Hope faction in Parliament regarded the criticism of the 'return of a security atmosphere to universities' as a 'common statement' of student organizations and urged the Minister of Science to pursue students' demands 'with greater seriousness.' According to ILNA news agency, Mohammad Reza Aref said on Sunday, November 30: 'The fact that the atmosphere has moved towards becoming security-oriented and that the Ministry of Science is obliged to pay more serious attention to the demands of students is a common statement of all student organizations.' Aref emphasized that the expectation of the members of the Hope faction from the Minister of Science is to pursue the 'just demands of students with greater seriousness.' Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, during his election campaign and throughout his presidency, repeatedly expressed support for the political and cultural activities of students, promising that his government would strive 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 calls 'places for the activities of political currents.' Previously, student organizations and several members of Parliament have criticized the continuation of a security atmosphere in universities on multiple occasions. For instance, in August of this year, 92 student organizations wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani criticizing the continuation of the 'climate of intimidation and threat' and the 'security atmosphere' in Iranian universities, protesting the cancellation of student organization programs and 'illegal and extralegal interventions' in holding them. In February 2016, 813 student publication activists also wrote to Rouhani asking him to issue a 'decisive order' to higher education officials to prevent the 'growing trend of illegal actions' against these publications. 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 in August 2014, after which Mohammad Farhadi was introduced as the Minister of Science. However, Farhadi's management in the Ministry of Science has faced criticism, and there have been murmurs about his impeachment in the tenth Parliament. In this context, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a representative from Tehran in Parliament, criticized the 'passive' actions of the Minister of Science on November 19, stating: 'In cases like scholarships, they have been so passive that now the roles of plaintiff and defendant have reversed, and those who were accused of illegal scholarships are now the plaintiffs and are even seeking to gather signatures for the impeachment of the Minister of Science.' Sadeghi's reference could be to the impeachment proposal for the Minister of Science, which some principlist representatives have reported preparing with 29 signatures in recent weeks. 'Cultural issues and the Islamic document of universities,' 'problems related to technical and vocational universities,' and 'welfare and livelihood issues for students and staff of the Ministry of Science' are among the topics raised for the impeachment of the Minister of Science. Nevertheless, the head of the Hope faction, as the main faction supporting the government, said on Sunday that the 'short-term strategy' of this faction regarding the government's performance is not to impeach ministers. Aref also announced that this faction has always pursued cabinet reform 'seriously' and has had discussions with the government in this regard. The Ministry of Science is one of the most controversial ministries in the country, and Hassan Rouhani's efforts to select his preferred candidate as Minister of Science were repeatedly halted in the ninth Parliament. The representatives of the ninth Parliament, the majority of whom were principlists, did not give a vote of confidence to his first proposed candidate, Jafar Mili Manfarid, and impeached Reza Faraji Dana after a year. They did not show favor to the two caretakers of the Ministry of Science before and after Faraji Dana's term, namely Jafar Tofighi and Mohammad Ali Najafi, failed to secure a vote of confidence for Rouhani's other two candidates, Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi and Fakhruddin Danesh Ashteyani, and ultimately approved Mohammad Farhadi. In this context, the letter from 92 student organizations to Rouhani criticizing the 'climate of intimidation' in universities is significant.