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Mahmoud Sarabi‎

After noisy student protests against the chancellor of Tehran University, or perhaps a ‎change in the policy of the Ministry of Science which oversees the work of institutions of ‎higher education in Iran, Omid Zanjani, the first cleric to head the largest and most ‎important institution of higher education in Iran was removed from office, and replaced ‎with Farhad Rahbar. Prior to this, Rahbar was the head of the Management and Planning ‎Bureau, from where he had been removed.‎

Rumors have been circulating for months about the possible removal of Zanjani from his ‎post. The mill was so strong that some Tehran dailies even went as far as reporting the ‎possible reprimand of the university tsar. But that was immediately refuted. But as Iran ‎watchers well know, rumors are a way of presenting many actual news in the country, ‎there was informal talk of Farhad Rahbar as a possible replacement for Tehran ‎University’s leadership.‎

On the very same day that Zanjani was announced to be the new head of Tehran ‎University – made in the presence of president Ahmadinejad himself - students staged ‎vocal protests against the appointment of a cleric to this prestigious institution. The ‎protests were so fierce that at one point, Zanjani’s turban fell off his head, an image that ‎found its way into many leading national newspapers. And as this controversial cleric ‎now leaves the university, some of those very students who had been calling for his ‎ouster believe that his removal is in fact a step to solidify the police involvement in the ‎institution and entrench the policy of the current administration to silence vocal and ‎critical students. These students and others cannot overlook the fact that the new ‎chancellor to settle on campus is no other than a former economic deputy at the Ministry ‎of Intelligence led by cabinet ministers Dori Najafabadi and Ali Falahian.‎