The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) called for the professor to be disciplined for making what the organization called “racially discriminatory and inflammatory” remarks about all Iranians.
The faculty member in the crosshairs is Jeffery D. Ullman, a computer science professor emeritus.
In a January 4 letter to University President John Hennessy, NIAC says a graduate student at Sharif University in Iran emailed Ullman asking about admission into the graduate computer science program at Stanford. Ullman responded by directing the student to a page on his website that explained the selection process for the graduate school is in the hands of a committee of graduate students and faculty members, and that he could not and would not influence them, The Stanford Daily campus newspaper reported.
Ullman went on to say that even if he were in a position to help, he would not do so until Iran recognizes Israel’s right to exist, adding that “if Iranians want the benefits of Stanford and other institutions in the US, they have to respect the values we hold in the US, including freedom of religion and respect for human rights.”
The NIAC letter said such remarks unfairly discriminate against Iranian students and complained that Ullman is “holding the aspirations of young Iranians hostage to the policies of their government.” The organization urged Hennessy to condemn the remarks, take disciplinary action against Ullman, and clarify Stanford’s position on the issue of Iranian-American students.
Stanford said Ullman is not involved in admissions and is free to express controversial opinions.
“This faculty member was expressing his own personal views and not the views of the University,” said university spokeswoman Lisa Lapin. “He has no involvement in admission, and Stanford doesn’t discriminate in their admission process.” She said there is no plan to discipline Ullman for his statements, adding that Stanford has many professors who hold controversial opinions.
Ullman defended the wording of his email, telling The Stanford Daily, “If someone contacts me personally with a request, I don’t mind giving them some of my opinion. When I say, ‘I will not help you,’ I don’t mean if you are admitted to Stanford I won’t advise you. It simply means I would not give them special attention in preference to someone else.”
Asked by the Daily why he chose to elaborate on the student’s country of origin in his email, Ullman said he was trying to teach this student a version of history he may not have heard.
“There’s a war going on in this world between Iran and Israel and other countries,” he said. “I don’t believe an Iranian student, however bright they may be, is going to get a true picture of the issue. I was just trying to show him the Israeli side of the story.”
Ullman says that he is inundated by emails from students in Iran, but doesn’t know why or whether many other professors are being similarly flooded.
The professor’s public Stanford website includes a page entitled “Answers to All Questions Iranian,” in which he expresses his political views on questions such as why the US shot down an Iranian airliner in the 1988 and why the CIA deposed Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. The page, written as a series of questions from Iranians with answers from the professor, also includes the question, “Can I get into Stanford?” with the response, “Probably not.”