Iran’s elite technical university emerges as hub of protests

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

Iran’s elite technical university has emerged as an unexpected hub for protest as demonstrations erupt across the country. The Sharif University of Technology has long been a magnet for the nation’s brightest minds. It has a record of elevating its students to the highest reaches of society. The daily protests at Sharif University and the violent crackdown on students there have fueled Iran’s biggest antigovernment movement in over a decade. Over the last few weeks, university campuses have become a hotbed of opposition after years of dormancy. They are playing an important role in nationwide protests that were first sparked by the death in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police.