Wave of University Professor Dismissals; Mohammad Reza Aref Resigns in Protest Against 'Destructive Intervention' of the Government

Following a new wave of pressure on Iranian universities to change their educational staff and allow prominent government figures to enter, Mohammad Reza Aref, a prominent official of the Islamic Republic and a member of the recruitment board at Sharif University of Technology, resigned from his position in protest. Aref, who was the vice president during Mohammad Khatami's presidency and is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, resigned on Tuesday, reportedly in protest against the 'dismissal order [of Ali Sharifi-Zarchi], a faculty member' from one of Tehran's universities, according to several media outlets including the state news agency ISNA and the newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad. Meanwhile, the newspaper Hamshahri, affiliated with the Tehran municipality, reported: 'It has been previously stated that Dr. Mohammad Reza Aref's vote in the recruitment board meeting regarding the termination of collaboration with the faculty member of Sharif University was negative.' Some professors and student councils in Iran reported on Saturday, September 4, the 'dismissal and suspension' of several professors from Sharif, Tehran, and Tabatabai universities. Ali Sharifi-Zarchi, a faculty member in bioinformatics and artificial intelligence at Sharif University of Technology, also wrote in a message that he had received his dismissal letter from the university. Sharifi-Zarchi was a government-affiliated professor in previous years who sided with protesting students following last year's protests and was even summoned by security agencies. He had recently reported on the secret move by the Iranian government to recruit several thousand new government-affiliated individuals as university professors. Two days ago, he was dismissed from Sharif University. The 'Iranian Academic Association' issued a statement on Sunday, September 5, warning against the 'destructive intervention' of state, security, and intelligence institutions of the Islamic Republic in the education and university sector. Furthermore, alongside the widespread dismissal of 'critical' professors from universities and on the eve of the new academic year, several government-affiliated individuals have been appointed as 'professors' to replace the dismissed faculty members. The website Modara revealed a new government figure for teaching at prestigious Iranian universities on Sunday, September 5, stating: 'Sajad Safar-Herandi, son of Mohammad Hossein Safar-Herandi, the Minister of Culture in Ahmadinejad's government, has been appointed as a professor at Sharif University of Technology.' Before him, Amir Hossein Sabati, a presenter at the Ofogh TV network and a member of the Stability Front, had also obtained a professorship at Iran's most prestigious industrial university. These two loyal government figures are set to teach a course on the Islamic Revolution in the upcoming semester. According to the newspaper Sharq published in Tehran, on Tuesday, September 6, Daryoush Rahmanian, a 'suspended' associate professor of history at Tehran University, stated that the Ministry of Science of the Islamic Republic is 'spending its institutional prestige' on 'incompetent managers' and declared that if this trend continues, 'the humanities should be mourned.' Farshid Norouzi, a former faculty member at Mazandaran University, told the Persian section of Voice of America that 'the atmosphere of Iranian universities is one of repression, not a scientific environment.' The intensification of the dismissal of opposing and critical professors and students of the Islamic Republic is evident. Farshid Norouzi stated: 'The university in Iran is under the control of security institutions and has lost its function.' The narrowing of the space for 'non-affiliated' individuals in universities; 'affiliated' individuals are replacing 'protesting' professors. The Iranian Academic Association condemned the excessive intervention of security-intelligence institutions. The crackdown on critical professors at universities continues; Ali Sharifi-Zarchi was dismissed from Sharif University.