TEHRAN, Iran — After six years as Tehran University chancellor, the Farhad Rahbar, 54, was ordered last week to step down from his position by President Hassan Rouhani’s minister of science. Iranians online celebrated and students at Tehran University even laid out sweets underneath a sign that read “Farhad Rahbar is gone.” The crackdown on the 2009 protests, the forced retirement of critical professors and Tehran University’s unique role in protest movements made Rahbar one of the more controversial officials in recent years. 

When he was selected as chancellor in 2008, some individuals saw his first decisions as a distressing sign of what was to come.

Hossein Naghashi, the former secretary of the Islamic Association of Tehran University, told Al-Monitor, “There were no demonstrations when Rahbar replaced Amid Zanjani. The activists were worried, however, because of what they knew about Rahbar’s background. A few months later it became clear that their fear was not unfounded. Installing a gate to control the entrances and exits of the students was just the beginning.” 

Commenting on the methods employed by Rahbar to pressure the students and professors, Naghashi said Rahbar “would limit the opportunities of the forward-looking and reformist students by putting pressure on independent student associations. Also, limitations imposed on the cultural and political activities of the students increased during his time as the chancellor of Tehran University.”