Humiliated Cleric Resigns Chancellorship

Rooz Online:

Following the appointment of a cleric as the Chancellor of Tehran University, a group of students staged a peaceful protest in front of the school’s central library calling for his resignation. The protest took place at the same time that the appointment ceremony for ayatollah Amid Zanjani was in progress.

Students also chanted slogans against the new Minister of Education, Doctor Zahedi, and also against the government at large calling it a military administration led by a cleric. Protesting students called the appointment a humiliating act against their institution. Students became agitated when Zahedi, who was at Tehran University for the appointment ceremony, refused to meet them and slipped out of the building through a back door. As he was leaving the building he is reported to have said, “I am proud that the atmosphere in our country now is so open that students can freely express their views. This is a cause for pride.” READ MORE

Zanjani was more accommodating and promised to meet the protesting students at a suitable time and discuss their grievances. “I respect students. But would also like to stress that the authority of the government too needs to be respected,” he told a reporter. “The university is part of the Ministry of Science, which is itself part of the government, which in turn is part of the executive branch that gets is legitimacy from the people. The Minister of Science has been confirmed by the Majlis (Iran's Parliament), and so has the authority to appoint new education officials, including the Chancellor of Tehran university,” he added.

The Islamic Students Association issued a statement regarding the new appointment in which it criticized the government for not consulting even the representative of the Leader at the university, Haj Torabi who favored the continuation of the university elected chief, Dr Farji-Dana. Dana had been elected to head the university during the Khatami administration through direct elections by the university itself. During last Sunday’s protests at Tehran University, Dana called on the protesting students to keep their calm by pledging his allegiance to the institution and that he would remain with it, even though he was no longer its chancellor.

Opinion about the change in the appointment process for the university varies. Dr Jaafar Tofighi, a former Minister of Science, favors the previous method where the university itself made such decisions. “We got very good results from that approach,” he said, adding that he had hoped that the method would continue despite political changes in the country. “While the loudest call these days is for participation, the new approach denies the faculty of any input in the process,” he said. He indicated that with the appointment from outside, the new chancellor would not enjoy the full support from the faculty.

Zanjani is said to be the first chancellor of Tehran University who does not hold a university degree. As the chancellor was leaving the premises of the university, protesting students kept growing in size where at one point, the chancellor was pushed around by his security agents so much that his turban fell off.

Dawood Sheibani, Political Secretary of Islamic Association of Students of Tehran University and Medical Sciences told ISNA student news agency, “We protest this appointment and believe that this decision has to be made with the participation of the university itself.” He called on the representative of ayatollah Khamenei to resign from his post in protest of moves that aim to “apply pressure” to the academic atmosphere of the country. The statement that was issued in protest of the appointment praised the previous chancellor, Faraj-Dana for his services and personality, and called on the officials to continue the former appointment method. It also questioned the president’s commitment to promote kindness. It concludes by asking officials why despite the availability of highly educated and loyal university professors and some even with close ideological affinity to the new administration, could they not find someone more suitable.

The objections to Zanjani come in light of the fact that it is reported that he did not easily accept to be the new chancellor and had to be convinced by senior government officials.

In this regard, conservative newspaper Kayhan that normally tightly follows the administration’s line of thought, wrote that the Sunday demonstrations at Tehran University had been pre-planned by a fanatic 2-Khordad group (a reference to the day reformist president Khatami won a landslide presidential election 8 years ago). Observers have said that these recent events resemble in some ways to what happened earlier to the university protests, and fear that some extremist circles may again try to utilize these events for their own benefits.