The 'Dark Period' of Mohammad Moein's Presidency: An Interview with a Tehran University Professor

Dariush Rahmanian, an associate professor of history at Tehran University, stated in an interview with Radio Farda that Mohammad Moein's presidency at Tehran University was a 'dark period.' Following the announcement of Moein's dismissal from Tehran University on September 18, Rahmanian remarked that during the tenure of Minister Mohammad Ali Zolfi Gol and specifically during Moein's presidency, 'the status, credibility, and dignity of higher education in Iran, symbolized by Tehran University, suffered significant damage, and I do not believe it can be compensated in the short term.' After Moein's dismissal, Minister of Science and Technology Hossein Simayi appointed Seyed Hossein Hosseini as the acting head of Tehran University. Rahmanian, who was suspended during Moein's presidency, noted that 'Moein left behind a dark record as the president of Tehran University,' recalling a famous couplet by Parvin E'tesami about how the good and bad of our actions will be recorded. Mohammad Moein was the first president appointed by the Minister of Science under Ibrahim Raisi's government, serving as acting president from September 21, 2021, before being officially appointed. Just a day before his dismissal, former president Mahmoud Nili Ahmadabadi had called for the release of Kasra Noori, a Tehran University student. In a three-year performance report, Moein claimed that 'in these three years, we had no expelled professors or students, and the lists of so-called expelled professors circulating online lack credibility.' He had previously denied the expulsion of professors, stating that some were barred from work due to 'ethical issues and having complainants.' Rahmanian, who was among the suspended professors, mentioned in September 2023 that the damage inflicted on Tehran University during Moein's presidency was not limited to the expulsion and suspension of professors and students. 'Tehran University, in terms of education and research, is the premier university in the country. For instance, in our history department, we had students from various nationalities: Chinese, Korean, Thai, Japanese, German, Turkish, Afghan, Iraqi, Syrian, and many others. Now, if you look at the status of the history department at Tehran University, it has severely declined. The educational quality for our Iranian students has drastically deteriorated. I say this as someone who has entered my thirty-second year of university teaching. The decline in students, especially at the graduate level, is very noticeable.' According to Rahmanian, 'When management becomes factional, relational, and based on connections rather than competencies and abilities, the result is a type of lax and careless management. Look at our Faculty of Literature and Humanities, which is the pride of contemporary Iran, and the figures who were in this faculty, the shining lights of our culture, literature, art, and contemporary history, and see what has happened to this faculty over the past three years.' Moein's dismissal has been welcomed by social media users. Ali Sharifi Zarqi, a faculty member of artificial intelligence and bioinformatics at Sharif University, who was also among the suspended professors and returned to his position after the change of the Minister of Science, wrote on social media that 'the fate of people like Moein is very instructive.' Journalist Yaghma Fashakhami also commented on social media that Moein, who 'was pursuing the education of Hashd al-Shaabi forces at Tehran University and described the problem of expelled professors as 'ethical,' has been dismissed.' The new acting head of Tehran University, Seyed Hossein Hosseini, holds a PhD in veterinary medicine from Tehran University and previously served as the university's educational deputy and director general of the Higher Education Expansion Office at the Ministry of Science. He is a faculty member of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Tehran University with a professorship. Rahmanian, who knows Hosseini closely, stated that when he was suspended during Moein's presidency, Hosseini had been following up on his case: 'Due to the problems I had, I visited him at his invitation during his time as educational deputy.' Rahmanian noted that 'in management, we have two categories of managers: one category consists of managers who quickly and prematurely rise to positions of power without experience and without going through the ranks, which unfortunately is common in our country; the other category consists of managers who gradually and step-by-step rise to positions of power and gain experience. I believe Dr. Hosseini belongs to the second group.' Rahmanian also explained that the Minister of Science, in the decree issued for Dr. Hosseini, stated that 'he is tasked with forming a council in collaboration with professors to select the new president of Tehran University with a type of consensus and also in line with the government's discourse of national consensus, in consultation with the Minister of Science and other institutions. Dr. Hosseini has the mandate of acting with this mission, and of course, he himself should also be chosen.' However, in the appointment of university presidents in Iran, there is a higher institution called the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, whose members are selected by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, and this governmental body must approve the appointments. According to Rahmanian, this means that the selection and appointment of the president of Tehran University 'is not solely in the hands of the Minister of Science, so we must wait and see what happens.'