Solidarity with students
American academics write to President Khatami
Interview by Jahanshah Javid
March 3, 2000
The Iranian
More than one hundred prominent academics in the United States, including
the heads of more than ten universities, have written a letter to President
Khatami expressing concern over the fate of hundreds of students arrested
following last July's protests.
The letter also expresses hope for better ties between the people
of Iran and the U.S. "No matter what the political interests, religious
differences, and cultural tensions separating our governments, the good
will and friendly relations between the people of Iran and of the United
States allow us to transcend and transform the politics of hatred and violence,"
the letter states.
Here's a an interview (in Persian / RealAudio) with the original
author of the letter, Amir Soltani, the director of the Blue Initiative,
followed by the letter itself.
* On
support for human rights in Iran
* On
American academics' knowledge of Iran
* On why
the letter was prepared
January 1, 2000
Dear President Khatami,
In light of your invitation for a dialogue among civilizations, a dialogue
informed by a spirit of good will and mutual respect between the People
of the United States and the People of Iran, we would like to express our
deep appreciation for the academic, intellectual, scientific and literary
achievements of the Iranian people, both inside Iran and at universities,
corporations, and institutions in the United States.
As university presidents, professors, and educators, we recognize and
celebrate the depth of the historic bonds of friendship between our peoples,
bonds formed out of the Iranian and American peoples' passion for the advancement
of knowledge, dedication to the service of humankind, and devotion to the
celebration of the divine gift of life. The deeper principles that have
made education central to the development and progress of our nations reflect
the genius and generosity of our peoples. Such qualities of the mind and
the heart are not only evident in the classics of our civilizations, but
they are also indicative of the creative potential and promise of all of
our students.
Although our mission is far from complete, the university is where we
seek to translate our ideals into conduct and practices that reflect our
noblest aspirations and intentions. We strive to create a learning environment
where students can benefit from the wealth of ideas, resources, challenges,
and opportunities generated by our civilization, as well as other great
civilizations.
All our students, including young men and women of Iranian origin, are
encouraged to explore, express, and exchange ideas about themselves and
the world without fear of discrimination, retaliation or persecution based
on their racial and ethnic origins, political or religious beliefs, economic
status, sexual orientation, or physical limitations. Our success as a civilization
depends on our ability to protect and promote the welfare of students and
faculty in the classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, and playing fields
of the university.
It is in this light that we wish to express our deep concern over the
storming of a student dormitory at Tehran University on the night of Thursday
July 8th, 1999 and the subsequent arrest and detention of hundreds of students
on charges of violating public order and national security. We are alarmed
about reports of imprisonment, torture, secret trials, televised confessions,
and calls for the execution of student leaders, all in violation of the
legal and ethical principles enshrined in the Iranian Constitution and
in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Extra-legal and unilateral acts of violence and transgression undermine
respect for religion, civil society, and the rule of law. We believe that
such assaults upon Iranian students and universities imperil Iranian civilization
-- its past as well as its future -- and urge you and the Iranian people
to take every reasonable step to condemn and punish any person or party,
including members of the security forces and judiciary, who threatens the
life, liberty, and property of students and faculty inside or around any
university campus.
We believe that threats of violence and the use of force against students
and scholars constitute a grave hazard to a remarkable civilization that
has produced some of the world's finest poets, theologians, scientists
and artists and urge our friends inside Iran and in the international community
to protect the spiritual and intellectual reservoirs of faith and freedom
that have been the sources of your civilization's flowering.
No matter what the political interests, religious differences, and cultural
tensions separating our governments, the good will and friendly relations
between the people of Iran and of the United States allow us to transcend
and transform the politics of hatred and violence.
We wish to express our solidarity and support for the students and faculty
of Iranian universities, and we look forward to opportunities for greater
academic cooperation, further dialogue, and new friendships between Iranian
and American educators, scholars, and students.
Leila Ahmed
Professor of Women's Studies in Religion, The
Divinity School
Harvard University
Kenneth Anderson
Washington College of Law
American University
George Andreopoulos
Professor
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
City University of New York
K. Anthony Appiah
Professor of Afro-American Studies and Philosophy
Harvard University
David Baltimore
President|
California Institute of Technology
Louis B. Barnes
John D. Black Professorship Emeritus, Harvard
Business School
Saul Bellow
Boston University
Robert M. Berdahl
Chancellor
University of California, Berkeley
Paul Berg
Professor
Stanford University
Peter Berger
Director, Institute for the Study of Economic Culture
Boston University
Hans A. Bethe
Professor Emeritus
Cornell University
Dr. Günter Blobel
Professor of Cell Biology
The Rockefeller University
Carolyn Patty Blum
Director, International Human Rights Program
Boalt Hall Law School
University of California, Berkeley
Derek Bok
University Professor
Harvard University
William M. Chace
President
Emory University
Noam Chomsky
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Richard Pierre Claude
Emeritus Professor of Government and Politics
University of Maryland
Founding Editor, Human Rights Quarterly
Juan R. I. Cole
Professor, Department of History
University of Michigan
David Dapice
Professor
Tufts University
Robert Darnton
Professor, Department of History
Princeton University
Angela Y. Davis
University of California, Santa Cruz
Natalie Zemon Davis
Henry Charles Lea Professor of History Emeritus
Princeton University
Daniel Dennett
Director, Center for Cognitive Studies
Tufts University
Jack Donnelly
University of Denver
Tom J. Farer
Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies
University of Denver
Val L. Fitch
Princeton University
Jerome I. Friedman
Professor of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Harvard University
Tom Gerety
Amherst College
Michael Geyer
University of Chicago
Sol Gittleman
Professor
Tufts University
Hanna H. Gray
University of Chicago
Hurst Hannum
Professor, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts University
Gilbert Harman
Stuart Professor of Philosophy
Princeton University
J. Brian Hehir
Professor, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs
Harvard University
Louis Henkin
University Professor Emeritus
Columbia University
Judith Herman
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry
Harvard Medical School
Patrice Higonnet
Harvard University
Stanley Hoffmann Buttenwieser
University Professor
Harvard University
A.E. Dick Howard
White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs
University of Virginia
Thomas H. Kean
President
Drew University
Paul Kennedy
Yale University
Nannerl O. Keohane
President
Duke University
Daniel J. Kevles
California Institute of Technology
Rashid Khalidi
University of Chicago
Robert H. Kirschner, M.D.
Departments of Pathology and Pediatrics and
Faculty Committee of the Human Rights Program
University of Chicago
Robert Jay Lifton, M.D
Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
The City University of New York at
The John Jay College of Criminal Law and
The Graduate School
Charles Lindholm
Boston University
Kanan Makiya
Writer, Director of the Iraq Research and
Documentation Project
Harvard University
Beatrice F. Manz
Professor of History
Tufts University
David A. Martin
Doherty Professor of Law
University of Virginia
J. Paul Martin
Executive Director, Center for the Study of Human Rights
Columbia University
Carolyn Marvin
University of Pennsylvania
Herbert Mason
University Professor
Boston University
Everett Mendelsohn
Professor of the History of Science
Harvard University
William Miller
Professor of Law
University of Michigan
Timothy Mitchell
Professor, Director of Center for Near Eastern Studies
New York University
Daniel Mulholland
Professor, Tufts University
Makao Mutua
Professor and Director
Human Rights Center
State University of New York
Buffalo Law School
Victor Navasky
Delacorte Professor of Magazine Journalism
Columbia University
Joseph Nye
Harvard University
Douglas D. Osheroff
Professor of Physics
Stanford University
Julie Stone Peters
Columbia University
Otto Piene
President
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robert Pinsky
Boston University
Mitchel Resnick
MIT Media Lab
Naomi Roht-Arriaza
Professor of Law
University of California
Hastings College of Law
Peter Rosenblum
Associate Director
Human Rights Program
Harvard Law School
Alfred P. Rubin
Distinguished Professor of Public International Law
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts University
Neil L. Rudenstine
President
Harvard University
George Rupp
President
Columbia University
Edward W. Said
University Professor
Columbia University
Jeswald Salacuse
Henry J. Braker Professor of Law
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts University
Oscar Schachter
Professor Emeritus
Columbia University
Orville Schell
Dean, Graduate School of Journalism
University of California, Berkeley
Stephen Schlesinger
Director, The World Policy Institute
The New School University
Martin Sherwin
Walter S. Dickson Professor of History,
Tufts University
Dr. John Silber
Chancellor of Boston University
James J. Silk
Executive Director
Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International
Human Rights
Yale University
Eugene B. Skolnikoff
Professor of Political Science Emeritus, MIT
Tony Smith
Jackson Professor of Political Science
Tufts University
Ervin Staub
Professor of Pyschology
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Henry J. Steiner
Professor, Director, Human Rights Program
Harvard Law School
Eric Stover
School of Public Health
University of California, Berkeley
Sherman Teichman
Director, Education for Public Inquiry and
International Citizenship (EPIIC), and Director
Institute for Global Leadership, Tufts University
Seymour Topping
Sanpaolo Professor of International Journalism
Columbia University
Daniel C. Tosteson
Dean Emeritus
Harvard Medical School
Laurence H. Tribe
Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law Harvard
University Law School
Daniel C. Tsui
Professor of Electrical Engineering
Princeton University
Joseph Turow
Robert Lewis Shayon Professor of Communication
Annenberg School for Communication
University of Pennsylvania
Richard H. Ullman
Professor of International Affairs
Princeton University
Charles Vest
President
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Steven Weinbe
University of Texas at Austin
Cornell West
Harvard University
Jon Westling
President
Boston University
Elie Wiesel
Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities
Boston University
Torsten N. Wiesel
President Emeritus
The Rockefeller University
E.O. Wilson
University Research Professor
Harvard University
Morton Winston
Professor of Philosophy
College of New Jersey
James Wright
President
Dartmouth College
Philip Zelikow
Director of the Miller Center for Public Affairs
and White Burkett Miller Professor of History
University of Virginia
