Dubai: A large Iranian-American group has asked a top US university to take action against one of its professors who made discriminatory anti-Iranian remarks through e-mail correspondence and web postings.
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC), the largest grassroots organisation representing the interests of the Iranian-American community, wrote to Stanford University asking it to clarify its position on remarks made by a computer science professor at the institution.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News, also called on the university to take disciplinary action against the professor.
In one e-mail to an Iranian graduate student, the professor responded to an enquiry about admission to his department saying: "...and even if I were in a position to help, I will not help Iranian students until Iran recognises and respects Israel as the land of the Jewish people. I know that you may not hold the same insane position as the mullahs that run your country, but it is a matter of principle."
The professor went on to write: "If Iranians want the benefits of Stanford and other institutions in the [United States], and they have to respect the values we hold in the [United States], including freedom of religion and respect for human rights."
The NIAC emphasised in its letter that many young Iranians faced persecution from the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for their political views. The letter added that the students often face banishment from Iranian universities if they are associated with views held against the government.
Victimised on both ends
"Increasingly, young Iranians are finding that opportunities to pursue higher education at home are closed off to them for political reasons… It is abhorrent that similar discrimination on political grounds would confront young Iranians seeking to study abroad at American universities," the letter written by Jamal Abdi, Policy Director at the National Iranian American Council, reads.
There are between one million and 1.5 million Iranians living in the United States — and this is widely believed to be highest number outside Iran. Washington broke its diplomatic relations with Tehran in 1980 several months after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
