Increased Pressure and Summoning of Students; National Student Councils Say It's 'Unprecedented' and Justified by Hijab

On Thursday, the National Student Councils issued a statement titled 'The Rampage of Mandatory Hijab Enforcers at Universities', announcing an increase in the summoning of students to disciplinary committees in recent weeks. They noted that this level of confrontation with students is unprecedented, even compared to the peak of protests last year. The student council emphasized that in the past two weeks, many students have been summoned to disciplinary committees and have received heavy penalties, which in most cases were issued under the pretext of not adhering to the hijab mandated by the authorities. In addition to students who received summons for the first time and were forced to sign commitment letters, many others with suspended sentences were informed that their penalties had been activated without a preliminary council meeting and merely through a phone call from the disciplinary committee. The National Student Councils further stated that although there are no exact statistics yet, it is estimated that over 50 students were summoned to the disciplinary committee in the past week under the pretext of hijab violations, receiving various penalties ranging from reprimands to suspensions. Importantly, as has been the case with most disciplinary committee cases, there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the students, and many have been suspended illegally based solely on anonymous reports. The council asserted that the commitment letters obtained from students are illegal and serve as a means to further harass them, advising students to familiarize themselves with the disciplinary guidelines and their rights to prevent illegal condemnation by committee members under false pretenses. The National Student Councils also reported that disciplinary committees have threatened summoned students not to publicize their sentences. They noted that aside from disciplinary actions, university security is also actively harassing students under the guise of dress code enforcement, allowing hijab enforcers to operate freely on campuses and unprecedentedly preventing students whose attire does not meet security preferences from entering. Concurrently with the intensification of pressure on students and the expulsion and suspension of several professors, the Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed on October 4 that 'enemies' view universities as 'the focal point of all their efforts' to 'distort minds, capture hearts, dominate the realm of thought and beliefs of our youth.' Students and professors from over 120 universities in Iran, during the nationwide protests of 2022, expressed support for the protesting public, calling for the 'overthrow' and elimination of the entire Islamic Republic. The Islamic Republic's continued pressure on society regarding hijab is aimed at maintaining control and suppressing dissent.