A Day of Their Own

The Islamic Republic of Iran’s policy of countering, arresting, and quelling its opponents remains in force as the end of the Ahmadinejad administration draws near. In this climate, students who had already paid dearly for their actions over the past three years took it upon themselves once more to act when no leader showed up to listen to them at this year’s “Student Day” function. They found a way to make their message of protest heard, and although it did not reach beyond the walls of the University of Tehran, it was nevertheless so piercing that it forced the leader of Iran into meaningful silence.

December 6th is Student Day in Iran. On this occasion every year, students are given an opportunity to voice their demands and air their grievances in the presence of government leaders. Although these demands have never been greeted with clear answers in the past, President Khatami would at least appear among students on Student Day and lend an ear to their questions. This tradition continued for at least three years during the Ahmadinejad administration.

Khatami appeared among students at a time when—as his time in office was drawing to an end—criticism against him was mounting. As in society at large, the more the government's reformist policies stagnated, the more vociferously the students cried out. Khatami's last appearance among students was in December 2004, when he arrived late for a student function and came under heavy criticism from the students. When their remarks developed into a veritable shouting match with the President, Khatami labeled the situation proof of his reforms, telling the students, "The fact that you can stand here and voice your criticisms freely to your president is a sign of the effectiveness of my policy development." This was not the only telling statement made by Khatami. He also warned, "Just wait for the next administration to come into office and let’s see if you still have this much freedom."

The Ninth Administration and the University

It was not long before Khatami's prediction was borne out. The following year, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was in Mecca for the ‘Special Summit of Islamic Countries’ and did not appear at the University on Student Day. However, when he returned to Tehran, he chose to appear before students of Iran University of Science and Technology, where he himself had studied thirty years earlier, rather than the University of Tehran, the customary venue.

In 2006 Ahmadinejad decided to go to Amir Kabir University. His administration, by coordinating with its supporters within the University Student Basij and other sympathetic institutions, planted the hall with its own students in advance, so that few opponents could attend. Nonetheless, many students who felt that the oppressive policies of the Ninth Administration had already gone too far protested his presence. As a result, security there and at other universities in the country was increased.

The security department of the Ministry of Research and Sciences first came up with the idea of "starred students," which allowed it to bar certain students from registering and attending higher institutions of education. Moreover, the Ministry of Intelligence and its representatives in universities, operating under the heading of Heraasat (“protection”), expanded its range of operations to such an extent that a large number of students found themselves being summoned, arrested and even imprisoned.

Although parallel institutions, such as the University Student Basij, had made special efforts to implement the ruling power's containment policies during the previous administration, once Ahmadinejad occupied the presidential office, the trend picked up momentum. After imposing constraints on students, the Ministry of Research and Sciences, which was executing the policies of the government, now initiated a policy of expelling and eliminating professors who spoke out against the government. Although it was deemed “retirement,” the policy actually amounted to the dismissal of over a hundred university professors from universities in the capital city and other provinces. The majority of them had one thing in common: the regime and the Ninth Administration did not trust them.

The containment policy gained strength every day. Three Amir Kabir students were sentenced to extended prison terms, and although news of their torture leaked out, they remained in prison. Student Day 2007 came at a time when students were expecting a free political climate to develop on the threshold of elections to the Eighth Majles. Not only did this fail to happen, but the President of the Ninth Administration completely broke with tradition and failed to appear at the event. Instead, he opted to invite a select group of students and delivered a speech directly to them. This was such a disappointment to the students who had hoped to speak out on the occasion that they made special preparations for Student Day 2008.

Student Day 2008 arrived under conditions compounded by political problems and increased security, and at a time when people on the streets were facing numerous hardships due to the government’s ineffective economic policies. It was not hard to imagine that in such an atmosphere, the President of Iran would again refuse to appear at a university. Thus, no one was surprised when officials suddenly announced that this year, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, would appear before the students on Student Day.

The announcement of this news was enough to cause a tightening of security at the university. However, when Student Day rolled around on December 6th, officials suddenly announced that Khamenei would not be coming to the university as promised. The ceremony was cancelled—unbeknownst to a group of students sympathetic to the Ninth Administration, who had arrived at the university in an organized fashion. But no ceremony took place in the leader’s presence that day.

It was a day after the planned government ceremony that students at the University of Tehran decided to celebrate Student Day in their own fashion. Although they were being closely watched by security agencies, a large crowd of students managed to gather on campus and sound their criticisms.

Here, students, chanting slogans such as "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, maker of threats and pressure," voiced their criticisms against the President of the Ninth Administration, stating that his government had summoned, arrested, and banned hundreds of students from education over the past three years. On this day they also addressed the leader of Iran with the phrase "Down with the dictator," a slogan that had previously been cried out by angry and oppressed students during the events of July 9, 1999.

A look at statistics shows that over the last eighteen months, almost 200 students have been arrested, and 161 of them have been barred from continuing their education.

The events of Student Day 2008 emphasize one reality above all else: although the Ninth Administration, in tandem with the policies of the Islamic Republic, responds to any sort of criticism in the harshest manner, students are still alive and exuberant despite the country’s deathly silence. In the face of hardships, they have not given up the fight.