Iranian students who attend Colorado State University are pushing for greater awareness and understanding of the injustices against women in their home country, and said they’re disappointed that Coloradans, American politicians and university leaders aren’t more vocal and supportive of them and their families’ plight.

As unprecedented mass protests continue in Iran, the students in Fort Collins have put up a table at their school to educate others about what has led to mass protests there. They’ve helped organize rallies in support of Iranian demonstrators and have pressured university leaders into sending an email that they say is too little and came too late.

Iranian students at CSU said they remain upset about how the university is not supporting them enough as dangerous mass protests continue in their home country. The students said they’ve wanted school leaders to educate the entire CSU community about how women are treated in Iran, which would shine a light on the abuses their loved ones face, and would show solidarity to Iranians in Colorado and the rest of the country. 

Rick Miranda, CSU’s interim president, said in an email to the Colorado Sun, the school supports its Iranian students, who are personally impacted by the inhumane treatment of protesters there. Demonstrators are defending basic human rights, he said, and everyone plays an important role when condemning suppression of those inalienable rights.

“We can only imagine the frustration that our Iranian students are experiencing, and we feel it too,” he told The Sun. “Ultimately, this isn’t about campus-wide emails from the interim president or a single university with limited reach but about the need for greater awareness worldwide, about the ongoing human rights violations and brutal treatment of civil rights protestors in Iran.”

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