Sociologist Mehdi Soleimaniye notes that after the first Cultural Revolution in Iran, the Cultural Revolution further intensified during the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad era (former President of the regime, 2005-2013), and efforts were made to “purify” universities. I think it has started to move. “University Winter” (Iran's Cultural Revolution refers to a series of events related to Iranian culture, Iranian higher education, and education in the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially between 1980 and 1983.) The aim is to purge professors and students who the Iranian regime deems to have been subjected to
According to the regime's news website Habal Online, Soleimaniye spoke at the Iranian National Conference on Socio-Social and Cultural Research and said, “Those who are currently active within the university and those who have been expelled and are outside the university are against each other.'' “We are not in conflict with each other,” he said. Both are against expulsion agencies. ”
According to the sociologist, the process of purification at universities involves three mechanisms: strict control of admissions, control of faculty through promotions and status changes, and, ultimately, the expulsion of dissenting professors.
As Iranian media continues to report on the ongoing series of professor expulsions, it is significant that sociologists highlight professor expulsion as one of three purification mechanisms.
In this context, the media reported that in two years, more than 25 professors were expelled from the University of Tehran alone, most of them graduates or practitioners in the humanities.
Reports indicate that these expulsions are still occurring midway through the school year.
According to the source, during the Ebrahim Raisi era, Tehran University and Tehran University of Medical Sciences each expelled 26 students, Alame University expelled five students, Mashhad's Ferdowsi University expelled six students, Azad University expelled 14 students, and Babol Medical University expelled students. It is said that he received it. The expulsions included one student each from Hakim Sabzevari, Talbiat Modares, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University, Shiraz University, Gilan University, and Sharif University of Technology.
Although the expulsions of professors have provoked reactions from students and criticism from experts, such expulsions have been normalized and justified within the government.
In May 2023, the Jam Jam newspaper, the news outlet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the state broadcaster, also emphasized the continued cleansing of the university, viewing it as a place for generating opposition.
On the same day, the president of Tehran University insisted that the decision to cut ties with the professors was due to “ethical issues” rather than political ones.
The wave of professor expulsions intensified following the murder of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the “morality police” and nationwide protests in 2022 against the role played by students and the support of professors.
On September 10, 2023, members of the country's seven scientific associations warned in a statement of “widespread expulsions of professors and security conflicts with students”, warning of the slow “collapse” of the education system and now accelerating. He said that inefficiencies in the education system are worsening the situation in the education system. Failure of the governance system.
