Politics of Academe
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad infiltrates another Rafsanjani stronghold, finally.
“Tell the ayatollah not to step on my tail” (pester me), Iran's first modern dictator Reza Pahlavi once told a confidante of his to convey to outspoken critic in the parliament Ayatollah Modarres. “Tell me the whereabouts of His Royal Highness’ tail” Modarres responded, “’cause it seems to be wherever I step.” In the second year of his presidency, during a speech for his avid supporters in the central city of Ardestan, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad narrated the story to mark the initiation of a relentless campaign to extricate from the influence of rival Hashemi Rafsanjani the multi-billion dollar worth semi-private Islamic Azad University, run for thirty years by a Conservative figure close to Rafsanjani, Abdullah Jasbi. On Wednesday, Ahmadinejad took a big step in achieving his goal after four years, as Farhad Daneshjou, brother of the president’s Minister of Culture Kamran Daneshjou, was announced as the new president of the academic leviathan. (follow IRD’s coverage of the story throughout the last two years)
Source: ISNA
Source: ISNA
As expressive as it gets: Jasbi’s trademark sulky face makes sense at least this one time. He has to leave the office for which he was a byword, after thirty years.
Board of Trustees. From right: Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, Ayatollah Rafsanjani and Kamran Daneshjou. Once the speaker of the Jasbi-founded nondescript political partyChakad-e Azad-andishan (The Peak of Free-Thinkers) Kamran is now the Minister of Culture in Ahmadinejad's administration.
Farhad Daneshjou, who turned into the new chancellor of Azad University a few hours later.
The expressions on Jasbi's face speak for themselves.
Beaming with triumph: Farhad Daneshjou after his appointment as president of the university.