CMU Hosts Experts on Iranian Protests

Members of the Carnegie Mellon University community gathered on November 17, 2022, for a panel discussion on the fight against gender apartheid and clerical despotism in Iran. Titled "Women. Life. Freedom,” the event was organized by CMU's Iranian Student Association and featured student speakers as well as prominent Iranian-American scholars from both CMU and the University of Virginia. Student organizers said the event emerged through discussions with CMU President Farnam Jahanian , Gina Casalegno , dean of students and vice president for Student Affairs, and other university leaders. CMU administrators have been meeting with students to lend their support in the wake of protests that followed the September 16 death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian woman arrested by the morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly. "As these painful events unfold, we're reminded that the desire for freedom and thirst for democracy are not confined or owned by a single culture," said Jahanian.