Iran’s government has replaced the president of Tehran University, a conservative Islamic cleric whose controversial appointment in late 2005 prompted student protests and concerns over academic freedom, after allegations of mismanagement, the Associated Press reported, citing an announcement in the state news media.

The former university chief, Ayatollah Abbasali Amid Zanjani, has been replaced by Farhad Rahbar, a professor of economics, the government-owned newspaper IRAN reported on Saturday. The announcement came after several student demonstrations over the past two weeks, in which protesters accused Mr. Zanjani and his administration of mismanagement and providing students with poor food and transportation. The minister of higher education, Mohammad Mahdi Zahedi, said Mr. Rahbar had been chosen because he was “capable, intelligent, a team-worker, persevering, and caring,” but provided no details of why Mr. Zanjani was being replaced.

Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appointed Mr. Zanjani in November 2005, reversing a precedent in which university leaders had been chosen by university members. A cleric had never before held the position. Even as Mr. Zanjani was being installed as president, hundreds of students protested the “undemocratic way” in which he had been appointed, according to news reports at the time. —Charles Huckabee