Iran’s ‘Star Students’ Are Singled Out for Censure Amid Protests

Politically active graduate students in Iran have been “placed on a list of students considered a threat by the intelligence ministry,” The Wall Street Journal reported today, and face “a partial or complete ban from education.” The clampdown against such “star students,” so-called because they often learn they have been singled out by finding stars beside their names on test results, has intensified in recent days, as students have remained at the forefront of the huge national demonstrations that have convulsed the country. Students with three stars, the most severe level of censure, face a lifetime ban from higher education.