NCRI, 05 June 2010 – Discussions around setting up gender-based universities, gender segregation in existing campuses and establishing a dress code for female students  continue within the regime.
A member of the regime’s Majlis (Parliament) committee on national security recently spoke of “those working to create and promote moral corruption among university students”, while the Ministry of Science has been showing increasing proclivity to grant permits for single gender universities.
In an interview with the state-run Mehr News Agency on Wednesday, the Majlis deputy, Zohreh Elahian, referred to “an enemy which has lost hope with regards to the post presidential election incidents.” She added, “News and information received show that our enemies are trying to confront the state by talking about widespread networks of corruption, an issue reported at the social level and also universities.”
She reiterated that the foreign media are trying to make”mal-veiling” a symbol of the fight against the ruling regime among the youth and students of Iran.
The Majlis deputy’s comments are not the only statements directly dealing with the issue. Recently, the Minister of Science said, “Universities should become Islamic.” During an interview with the state-run news agency ISNA, he stressed that the “plan for chastity and veiling in universities does not require new laws and regulations.”
Last week, two days after the minister’s remarks, another state-run news agency quoted the Director of Cultural Affairs at the Ministry of Science who talked about the formation of a “Council on University Attire.”
In parallel to increasing talk about female students’ attire by regime authorities, granting permits for single gender universities is also being seriously considered, a subject that has become a top university news story.
But instituting uniformity in universities is not restricted to attire and gender. On Wednesday, June 2, the regime’s Minister of Science, Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, declared in Ilam province, “Anyone not in agreement with the demands of people who marched on December, 30, 2009 has no place in university.”
He was referring to a pro-government rally organized on December 30, 2009, in response to widespread opposition protests on the religious day of Ashura (December 27).
Gender segregation is also seen as a method to control the country’s universities by the ruling regime. According to Zahedi, “In the past 15 years, our universities have been among the main areas that have constantly said ‘a huge no’ to the exiting establishment, and part of the campaigns for our civil rights have always emanated from our universities.”
The regime’s measures are believed to be doomed to failure. Universities are platforms for the generation of new ideas. Students are usually at the peak of their youth and adamant about individual thought and decision making.. Throughout the years when the issue of single gender universities has been on the table, the regime has only succeeded to implement it in a few cases like the University of Al-Zahra, Imam Hussein University and Imam Sadeq University.