Why the Disclosure of Scholarship Cases Became One of the 'Most Wrong Actions'

Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, on Saturday evening, July 13, met with a group of professors and academic staff from Iranian universities and stated that the aim of Western sanctions against this country is to prevent it from achieving what he described as the deserving position of Iranian civilization: "The goal of the sanctions is not just the nuclear issue. It is not about human rights either. It is not about terrorism. They themselves have nurtured terrorists. They themselves are against human rights. The issue is a much higher and broader calculation than these matters." In another part of his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei addressed the atmosphere of Iranian universities and severely criticized what he called marginalization and political maneuvering in university environments: "The university environment is a place for political understanding and political awareness. I do not oppose this. No. There should not be political maneuvering. There should not be political games. There should not be marginalization." The opening of university spaces and the holding of free-thinking forums were among the promises of Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, during the eleventh presidential election. The implementation of this promise has so far led to numerous challenges between the government and hardline conservative factions in Iran. In a conversation with Radio Farda, Ali Afshari, a former member of the Central Council of the Office for Strengthening Unity and a political analyst in the United States, explained the Supreme Leader's criticisms regarding what he called political maneuvering in universities: "This time, he expressed his opposition to the different policies that the ministers of science pursued during this period in the clearest stance since the start of the eleventh government. According to the leader, any activity that leads to the expansion of critical activities within universities is not welcome. But naturally, he cannot express this explicitly and has framed it under the guise of marginalization or political maneuvering. In the view of the leader, the ideal period is during Ahmadinejad's presidency when political activity in universities was virtually nonexistent, especially in the second term when a completely dominating political atmosphere was created. Therefore, Khamenei has raised these discussions out of concern that gradually the activities of the university space and the student movement might return to the pre-Ahmadinejad presidency era." However, another part of the Supreme Leader's speech was dedicated to the issue of illegal scholarship cases, where he described the events and media coverage of this issue as marginalization and one of the, according to him, most wrong actions in recent years: "One of the most wrong things that happened in the last year or two was this scholarship issue. It was not as the newspapers played it. No, it was not like that." While the Supreme Leader referred to the illegal scholarship cases on Saturday evening, July 13, it has been about a year since the violations in this case were revealed. Ali Afshari believes it was predictable that Ayatollah Khamenei would eventually address what had occurred in this case: "His comments about the scholarships were also predictable. But he chose the right moment to express his opinion when it seems this case has deviated from its natural and logical course for months after Farhadi took office in the Ministry of Science, and some of those accused of having misused the scholarships and wrongfully benefited from them have returned. Therefore, this case has practically gone nowhere, and the leader's recent remarks mark the end of another failed case, indicating that such problems within the government are more deep-rooted than can be changed by the departure of a president or a minister of science." The disclosure of illegal scholarships by the Ministry of Science during Hassan Rouhani's government has been one of the controversial topics in the past year in Iran's domestic politics. As current officials of the Ministry of Science have announced, this ministry granted doctoral scholarships to hundreds of individuals without verifying their academic qualifications during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency.