From the Campus to the Street

Iran's radicalized students practice the uses of power

Can those really be mere college students who are holding 50 Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran? The suspicion that they are instead seasoned militants is reinforced nightly when newscasts show armed men outside the embassy who look more like combat soldiers, an impression both accurate and misleading. The men in dark green fatigues are not students: they are members of the Pasdaran, the Islamic revolutionary guard. But there is general agreement among Iranians and Western diplomatic sources that the 200 or so young men and women who are always inside the embassy compound are indeed legitimate students.

One faction of the student radicals is composed of seminarians from the theological college at Qum, the holy city where the Ayatullah Khomeini resides. Many others are from Tehran campuses. One Tehran University professor says he knows of four students from his own department who took part in the assault, and a teacher at Melli University in the city reports that about 90 students from his campus joined the takeover.

To American television viewers, school seems to be out in Iran, but despite the marchers, the universities are open and classes are generally well attended. More than 200,000 of 35 million Iranians go to the 53 universities and technical schools. Tuition is free, and many students pursuing graduate degrees may linger on campus well into their late 20s.

One major characteristic dominates Iranian universities: the extraordinary role of politics on campus, and politics of a special kind. Though sweeping reforms of the education system along Islamic lines are being talked about, Khomeini has so far had remarkably little effect on the nature of Iran's universities. Only about 5% of the professors and administrators were purged for ties with the Shah. Since the revolution, faculty and staff have formed joint councils to run many of the schools. The tilt is definitely to the left, whether Islamic or Marxist.

Three major political groups jostle for position on Iranian campuses. The Mujahedin, the largest and most influential group, consists of radical Islamic nationalists who support Khomeini as a leader, but fear his reactionary approach to Islam. Another leftist group, the Pishgam, is the student affiliate of the Marxist Fedayan. Reportedly the group's members have received training from the Palestine Liberation Organization. The far-right Hezb-Ollahis, which gives Khomeini unquestioning obedience and represents religious fundamentalism, is in the minority.

The fragmentation of political opinion on campus creates some curious patterns. Leftist radicals and Muslim fundamentalists offer alternative courses outside the curriculum, just as radicals and blacks did on U.S. campuses in the 1960s. Indeed, the American experience in the '60s is one of the main influences on Iranian campuses. Says a professor: "Several of my radicalized colleagues are veterans of 1968 in the West and have been waiting ever since to repeat the experience at home."

This mixture of beliefs creates a volatile atmosphere on campus. The large, concrete buildings of Tehran University are emblazoned with a wide spectrum of graffiti, from Maoist slogans and Muslim oaths to standard anti-imperialist catch phrases. But activism is not confined to Tehran. The smaller the city, the more politically prominent the university tends to be. In Baluchistan, for instance, many students belong to the Jihad Sazandegi (meaning holy war), an organization that sends Iranian students to villages to build bridges, help harvest crops, teach school and generally spread the Islamic word.

Just like the rest of their society, Iran's students are in a period of great transition. The banishing of the Shah has loosened some types of censorship. Although some leftist parties are wary of being too open in their activities, political groups are technically free to put out their own publications. Says one student: "You don't know what it is to be able to go up to a newsstand and openly buy the writings of Lenin in Farsi." That may not be what the anti-Communist Khomeini has in mind as a suitable campus activity, but for the time being at least, the students of Iran are an independent force. They are relishing every minute of it.

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