Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
highly educated and liberated women and an environment of freedom. I
assumed that in Iran, as in most societies, the university would be where
people run free...barefoot through the grass of life, leaping over silly limits
just because they can.
But instead, the University of Tehran—the country's oldest, biggest,
and most prestigious university—made BYU look like Berkeley. Subsidized
by the government, the U. of T. followed the theocracy's guidelines to a T:
a strictly enforced dress code, no nonconformist posters, top-down direc-
tion for ways to play, segregated cafeterias...and students toeing the line (in
public, at least).
Hoping to interact with some students, I asked for a student union center
(the lively place where students come together as on Western campuses). But
there was none. Each faculty had a canteen where kids could hang out, with
a sales counter separating two sections—one for boys and one for girls.
In the US, I see university professors as a bastion of free thinking, threat-
ening in a constructive way to people who enjoy the status quo. In Tehran,
I found a situation where the theocracy was clearly shaping the curriculum,
faculty, and tenor of the campus. Conformity on any university campus saddens
me. But seeing it in Iran—a society which so needs some nonconformity—
was the most disheartening experience of my entire trip.
Imagine Every Woman's a Nun
My visit to the university jolted me back into
the reality of traveling in a society where moral-
ity is legislated—where a crime is a sin, and a sin
is a crime. In their day-to-day lives, the women
of Iran are keenly aware of the impact of living
in a theocracy. h e days when the Shah's men
boasted that miniskirts were shorter in Tehran
than they were in Paris are clearly long gone. In the
post-Islamic Revolution Iran, mod-
esty rules, and the dress and behavior
of women are carefully controlled.
Given the strict dress code, the face is an Iranian
woman's powerful tool. If the nose isn't quite right,
it can be fi xed. We saw many nose jobs healing. And
those eyes...truly a contact sport.
