The social and political changes of the late 1970s and early 1980s introduced the student movement as a powerful player in the power equations. During the reform era (1977-1984), the student movement was recognized as a leading force. The activities of the movement, focused on the discourse of political development and reforms and the presentation of civil demands, including helping to establish and develop civil society. During this period, the student movement constantly reflected the demands of political groups, journalists, and civil institutions. The slogans and demands of this movement included freedom of expression, freedom of political prisoners, and freedom of the press. The leadership of the student movement in the public sphere of the university – which had been transformed into the secluded courtyard of the Islamic Republic after the Cultural Revolution – turned it into an enemy for the government, an enmity that had severe consequences for the university and the future of Iran, and caused the government to spare no effort in suppressing it.

With the decline of the reform movement (1384) and especially with the emergence of the ninth and tenth government (1384 to 1392), the student movement faced new methods of suppression. These actions mainly began with the suppression of student organizations and associations. Islamic, scientific, and cultural associations and trade unions were shut down and their members were faced with expulsion and suspension from their studies. At the same time, the ruling institutions, by issuing permits for new student organizations in line with their power, attempted to establish “parallel groups” with the student movement. The main goal of this policy was the gradual elimination of the nature of the student movement and the creation of a new identity for it.

“Starkeeper, a name symbolizing deprivation from education.”

“Starred Students” is a title that was given to students who were deprived of education after the Khatami government. This title referred to the inclusion of a star symbol next to the names of some of the candidates in the supplementary education exams. When some students volunteered for the undergraduate entrance exam, they realized their special situation of restriction and deprivation of education by seeing stars next to their names on their exam sheets. To remove this star and solve the problem, they had to obtain an inquiry from security institutions, and a student who had a history of political activity would face a negative inquiry.

The issue of deprivation from education, during the years after the Cultural Revolution and the reopening of universities, became a common practice and continued in all governments, based on the decision of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution in 1984. This issue, although brought up once in a while, especially during election season, was always prominent. The issue of academic freedom is a deep-rooted and old crisis in the Islamic Republic and, along with election debates, such as inflation, foreign relations, and sanctions, it is one of the hot topics in the presidential candidates’ arguments.

The public debate about deprived students, named “Star Guardians”, was first brought up during the 2009 election period. When Mousavi said, “What are we doing? What disaster have we brought upon our universities that wherever I go, there is protest. We made this student a Star Guardian, we arrested him, we arrested another one and kicked them out of the university.” In response, Ahmadinejad mentioned the history of student deprivation, although he announced the date as 2001 and ignored the mass expulsion of students in the 1960s and during the Cultural Revolution, and only blamed the Khatami government, saying, “Mr. Mousavi, sometimes it hurts me when you bring up information that I know is based on ignorance. Where did the Star Guardians come from that Mr. Mousavi is now hitting the head of this government? The issue of Star Guardians was created during Mr. Moein’s time and in the first year of this government,

The result of this debate was the public discussion of the right to education in society. The society and public opinion, which had previously known nothing about the educational deprivation of students and their expulsion, suddenly became sensitive to this issue and the right to education became one of the important election topics. At the same time, deprived students and star students who had formed the “Council for the Defense of the Right to Education” in 2007, held gatherings in front of Ahmadinejad’s central headquarters to protest his false statements about the university issue.

In response to Ahmadinejad’s claim, Mustafa Moein – the minister of Khatami’s government – who was accused of starting the trend of starification of students, stated in an open letter: “According to the usual procedure for announcing the results of the graduate exam by the Measurement Organization, a number of accepted candidates (around 10 to 15 people) were re-examined due to deficiencies in educational documents or suspicion of ethical and disciplinary issues, which were mostly resolved after addressing the shortcomings.”

In the midst of this, we must also mention the decisions made in 1377 (1998) and during the time of reforms. The decisions made by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, signed by the then-president, were approved, according to which, if a student is punished in any disciplinary committee, no other authority, not even the Administrative Court of Justice – which is the only authority for complaints in this matter – has the right to enter this case.

More than a thousand people who were accepted into the Bachelor’s exam in 2006 faced issues with their credentials and had trouble continuing their studies. In 2006, Star Students were divided into three groups: One-Star Students, who had incomplete records. Two-Star Students, who had been warned about their incomplete records. And Three-Star Students, who were involved in political activities and were deprived of education.

Despite multiple follow-ups and referrals to relevant authorities, the scope of student protests continued to expand and persist without results. Document deficiencies became the cause of deprivation from education for candidates of the graduate entrance exam, a code name that appeared next to the student’s name on the Measurement Organization’s website, indicating that security institutions did not give him the green light to enter the university.

After the Green Movement and the unprecedented suppression of universities and deprived students from education, the film “I’m Not Angry” was made with a focus on the star students. “I’m not saying I was the top student in university, but my grades were always good. It doesn’t matter to me anymore. What matters to me is that my heart is in the university. The stars, the stars that the university gave me.” This dialogue from the film “I’m Not Angry”, directed by Reza Dormishian – which addressed one of the most important tragedies of universities – portrayed the suffering of deprived students from a fantasy and insignificant suffering to a depiction of the ruined lives of expelled students.

Governments and policymaking in universities.

In all of these debates, what should not be forgotten is that the confirmation of students’ status is the decision of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and has no relation to the government; because since the beginning of the establishment of the Islamic Revolution, in all periods, confirmation has been required for accepted students of postgraduate courses. This confirmation is carried out by intelligence agencies, university disciplinary committees, and law enforcement forces, and the increase or decrease in the number of students deprived of education depends on the discretion and approach of these three institutions.

With the increase in activities of the Sepah Intelligence and interference with the duties of the Ministry of Intelligence, this inquiry has become more complicated. Apart from these institutions, only the disciplinary committee, which is part of the university structure and therefore part of the Ministry of Science, depends on the government’s approach. During the Ahmadinejad era and later, the presidency era, the university’s perspective was more aligned with security institutions, but ultimately the security institutions are the final decision-makers.

The right to education in the spiritual course.

In 2013, “Star Student” was one of the issues discussed between Saeed Jalili and Mohammad Reza Aref. Jalili said to Aref, “When was the Star Student introduced? The former Minister of Science, Mr. Tofiqi, said it was during our time. Mr. Moein, during his term as Minister, wrote letters to the President stating that the 50 students who protested in front of the Ministry of Science should be dealt with by security, judicial, intelligence, political, and legal measures.” After the election that resulted in the presidency of Rouhani, it was announced by the interim Minister Tofiqi that this decision was made due to his ability to solve the issue of Star Students. Tofiqi and later Faraji Dana made efforts to solve this problem, but as mentioned before, due to the dominance of security institutions over the university space, except for a few students, no action was taken against the others and

This issue continued even during Rouhani’s second term. In December 2017, Mahmoud Sadeghi, a member of the Education Committee of the Tenth Parliament, announced in a meeting of the Hope Faction that the number of star students for the new academic year is more than 100. Although we know this number is just a handful and many students do not even bring up this issue publicly due to lack of motivation and hope for a solution.

The right to education in the presidency course.

The presidency era is one of the darkest periods of the university, as it even overshadowed Ahmadinejad’s presidency. In the early days of the presidency, the bill of equal access to education in higher education, known as the ban on star students, was withdrawn from the parliament. This bill, which had been approved by the cabinet during Rouhani’s presidency, states: “The right to education is a fundamental right of individuals and no one can be prevented from education at different levels, including higher education, except for lack of academic qualifications. Individuals with a criminal record in organized crimes such as human trafficking, armed struggle, and espionage for enemy countries are deprived of social rights and are not allowed to pursue higher education in government institutions during the period of social deprivation. All general and specific laws and regulations that require specific qualifications for the right to education, regardless of the source and time of approval, will be abolished.”

Mehrdad Viskarami, a member of the Education Commission of the Parliament in September 1401, said in interviews: “There are regulations for education in all parts of the world, but the issue of labeling students as deviant is a deviation.”

The sharp blade of suppression intensified in the university after the start of the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement. As announced by the president of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran on November 1401, “According to the new order of the National Security Council, in addition to the university president, the disciplinary committee can make decisions regarding the ban on student entry.”

The right to education in the medical profession.

In the recent election debates, the issue of expelling professors and students was one of the main points of contention between the two main candidates. After winning the election, the doctors promised to bring back the students and professors to the university and in the past few days, letters have been sent to the Ministry of Science and the Ministry of Health and Higher Education requesting the suspension of the students’ sentences.

But Hossein Simaie Saraf, the Minister of Medical Sciences, talks about the complaints received from students: “We do not have specific statistics, but we have received some complaints, although the receipt of a complaint does not necessarily mean that the claim is true. It must be investigated.” He also emphasizes: “Based on the demands that have been made so far, the President and the First Deputy have created an opportunity to review the issued verdicts. The President’s order does not mean that everything that has happened is wrong.” These statements do not seem very hopeful and remind us once again that the issue of “starred students” is not just an educational issue related to the Ministry of Science and Medical Education, but it is a solvable issue under the supervision of security institutions.

The final word is that the fate of academic freedoms is tied to social and political freedoms, and until the day that Iran experiences the colors of democracy and political freedom, solving the issue of universities seems impossible.