December 29, 2017
Protests were held at several Iranian universities De-cember 7, the occasion of Students Day. One activist told the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) that President Rohani has failed to uphold his election campaign promise to end the heavy police presence on university campuses.
“On the eve of this year’s Student Day, students were summoned over the phone and warned not to take part in protests,” student activist Moham-mad Sharifi Moghaddam told CHRI. “The authorities have made it more difficult to organize unions to seek better living conditions for students. The climate for political activities now is even worse than before.”
Student Day marks the anniversary of the death of three students who were killed by the Shah’s military at the University of Tehran December 6, 1956, while protesting against the British and US-backed coup in 1953.
After Iran’s 1979 revolution, officials tried to use Students Day to boost the image of the Islamic Republic, but the pro-revolution propaganda has been increasingly drowned out by calls for reform.
This year the protests focused on the rising costs of higher education, gender, and religious discrimination, and the ongoing presence of security forces on campuses.
“In recent years the demands of the student movement have shifted to economic issues, which society as a whole is grappling with,” said Moghaddam.
The protests began on December 4 at the University of Tehran and spread to other campuses in the capital, including the Sharif University of Technology, Allameh Tabatabai University, and Shahid Beheshti University. Students also held rallies in other cities including at Nishabur University in northeastern Iran.
The protests were primarily organized by a confederation of 32 student groups that issued a joint statement calling for an end to the privatization of student services; the reinstatement of state subsidies for students on food, housing, and transportation; the reinstatement of independent student groups and students who were expelled for political reasons; ending gender discrimination on campuses; and allowing ethnic and religious minorities to pursue higher education in Iran.
Moghaddam told CHRI, “Students are protesting because everything from the cost of food to dormitory accommodations and tuition is making it very difficult to continue pursuing education.”
Moghaddam pointed out to CHRI that the Science Ministry, which oversees university affairs, does not allow the formation of independent student organizations, and protesters are often summoned to disciplinary and security agencies for engaging in peaceful activism.
An earlier rally by female students at the University of Tehran on November 27 lasted three days. Students demonstrated against gender discrimination, excessive enforcement of the hejab, and the rising costs of student housing.
“Like other sectors of society, universities treat women in a patriarchal fashion so much so that the hejab has been made mandatory even inside the women’s dorms, and the students feel they have less freedom because they have to be inside by 8:30 p.m. or else their families will be contacted,” said Moghaddam.