Six university presidents traveling to Iran

    A delegation of six U.S. university presidents will visit Iran thanks to an invitation from Sharif University of Technology President Saeed Sohrabpour in Tehran.
    With the sponsorship of the National Academy of Sciences, American scientists have been participating in an exchange program with Iran recently, establishing a forum for communication and a basis for understanding. The presidents' trip seeks to expand on these exchanges and further the progression of the two nations' educational ties.
    The trip has been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of State and is being organized by the Association of American Universities, a non-profit organization that concentrates on issues important to research universities. The Richard Lounsbery Foundation, which has been involved in the National Academy of Sciences' exchanges, will cover all the delegation's travel expenses.
    The presidents come from three private and three public institutions: Carnegie Mellon University; Cornell University; Rice University; the University of California, Davis; the University of Florida; and the University of Maryland, College Park. All schools have had some type of previous contact with Iranian educators.
    While the visit comes at a time of mounting tension between the U.S. administration and the Iranian government, Tufts University President Lawrence Bacow said this type of academic exchange between rivaling nations is not unprecedented.
    "Even during the Cold War, U.S. academics met with their colleagues in the Soviet Union," Bacow said in an e-mail. "Such contacts can pave the way for other diplomatic initiatives." Bacow credited these meetings with the eventually successful negotiations of the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
    University of Florida spokesperson Janine Sikes told the Daily that this trip is about more than political tensions.
    "This is not a political trip," Sikes said in an e-mail. "Rather, it is about strengthening scientific and educational ties."
    But the plan has drawn some criticism. The trip's press release on the Chronicle of Higher Education's Web site reveals a variety of sentiments on the issue. "Would they have visited South African universities under apartheid?" wrote one commenter named, "Alan."
    In addition to visiting various universities, the teachers will hold meetings with Iranian scientists and engineers, and conduct an open forum with the students of Sharif University.
    Robert Berdahl, president of the Association of American Universities, said in a press release, "Prior to the Iranian revolution in 1979, a very high percentage of the faculty at Iranian universities was educated in the United States; since that time, and especially since 9/11, that number has declined dramatically. We believe it is important to maintain and renew academic ties between our two countries as a means of laying the groundwork for greater understanding and rebuilding what was once a very healthy collaboration in science and higher education."