Hundreds of students and alumni of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran have called for the removal of university president Sadreddin Shariati.
In a letter addressed to Iran’s new president, Hassan Rohani, the students criticize Shariati’s policies, which they summarize as “gender segregation, the promotion of disciplinary committees, a decline in academic quality, dogmatism, suspensions and the dismissal or forced retirement of professors.”
The students express hope that Rohani’s promise to create a more open atmosphere in universities would translate into “a revitalization of the academic atmosphere at Allameh Tabatabai University” and the dismissal of Sadreddin Shariati.
Sadreddin Shariati, who has been the head of Allameh University for eight years, recently announced that he has managed to institute gender segregation in up to 98 percent of the classes offered.
