Al-Monitor | Zep Kalb: On April 23, hours after the conservative daily Kayhan proclaimed that �[Islamic] Azad University is awaiting major restructuring,� four members of the institution�s nine-member board of trustees called a special session. Later in the day, Hamid Mirzadeh, the president of Islamic Azad University (IAU), received a note telling him to either resign voluntarily or be discharged by the weekend.

Mirzadeh�s sudden replacement drew an outcry among Reformists, who fear that the country�s largest private university is slowly falling into the hands of rival conservative factions.

Parvaneh Mafi, a Reformist member of parliament, told the Azad news agency, �Attacks and intrusions against IAU have a political and electoral undertone. � Questioning Dr. Mirzadeh�s management is one of the key strategies of a dishonest media.� The ministers of science and health, both members of the IAU�s board of trustees, also expressed opposition to the move.

Rumors first emerged that Mirzadeh would be replaced by Farhad Rahbar, a staunch conservative and former president of Tehran University. In the end, however, the board of trustees appointed Ali Mohammad Nuriyan, a less controversial figure, to temporarily oversee university affairs.

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