Dear Dr. Kiss,
I am writing on behalf of the Alliance Against the Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) to urge Union College to take clear, principled institutional action in response to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ongoing crimes against humanity, including the mass killing of protesters and the systematic oppression of women.
From January 8 to January 9, 2026, Iranian security forces carried out one of the deadliest crackdowns in the Islamic Republic’s history. Verified reporting by Amnesty International, United Nations experts, and eyewitnesses documents the regime’s use of automatic weapons, mass arrests, enforced disappearances, torture, and the pursuit of wounded protesters into hospitals under a nationwide internet blackout. Thousands were killed. Tens of thousands were detained. Families were forced to search through rows of bodies, and many were threatened into silence. Senior political figures publicly defended the system responsible for this violence and portrayed protesters as enemies deserving the harshest punishment.
In this context, recent public statements by former President Mohammad Khatami have drawn sharp criticism from Iranian civil society. He characterized the protests as a “large, pre-planned conspiracy” driven by foreign interference, framing the unrest as the result of external involvement rather than domestic grievance. Such rhetoric, particularly when protesters are already facing lethal force, risks delegitimizing civilian dissent and portraying demonstrators as foreign agents. In a climate of severe repression, labeling protesters in this manner can further endanger their lives and reinforce the narrative used to justify state violence.
Mohammad Khatami remains one of the Islamic Republic’s most senior and long-serving political figures. While often described internationally as a “reformist,” he consistently defended the preservation of the Islamic Republic’s governing framework, including during prior waves of student repression. His political legacy is inseparable from the system now responsible for mass killings and systematic suppression.
Leila Khatami, his daughter, currently holds a professorship at Union College. Public records indicate that she completed her education and early academic career at major state universities in Iran during a period when her father held senior government positions, including as a member of Iran’s parliament, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and later President. Those offices played central roles in regulating universities, suppressing dissent, and enforcing ideological conformity within Iran’s educational system.
While AAIRIA does not allege individual wrongdoing, Ms. Khatami’s trajectory unfolded within a political system in which access to elite institutions is often shaped by patronage networks, ideological alignment, and quota-based admission structures. Iran’s university system has long operated under forms of quota and preferential pathways tied to political status, revolutionary credentials, and regime affiliation. In such an environment, proximity to senior power structures confers undeniable social and institutional advantages.
The broader concern, therefore, is not personal guilt but structural privilege and elite continuity: the pattern in which individuals closely connected to authoritarian leadership are able to access top educational institutions domestically and later live and work within liberal democracies, while the regime they are linked to systematically denies those same opportunities and freedoms to its own citizens.
A public petition calling for review of Dr. Leila Khatami’s immigration and residency status has already garnered more than one hundred thousand supporters, reflecting widespread concern among members of the Iranian diaspora and human rights advocates. These concerns are substantive and persistent and will not dissipate through silence or delay.
Recent statements from U.S. officials indicate increased scrutiny of individuals connected to senior figures in sanctioned or authoritarian regimes, particularly where questions of privilege, access, or foreign influence arise. Against this backdrop, Union College’s decision to shield and defend a high-profile beneficiary of such a political system raises legitimate reputational and ethical concerns.
We wish to be clear: AAIRIA does not engage in arbitrary or unfounded campaigns. Our advocacy is evidence-based and consistent. As you may be aware, our efforts have led to concrete outcomes, including the termination or removal of Mohammad Jafar Mahallat, Shirin Saeidi, Behrooz Ghamari Tabrizi, and Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoeini from their respective positions, as well as the forced retirement of Hossein Mousavian. These outcomes followed sustained institutional review, public scrutiny, and engagement with relevant authorities.
Ignoring these concerns is therefore not a viable strategy. AAIRIA has repeatedly demonstrated that it will pursue all lawful and ethical avenues available, including engagement with local and state officials, members of Congress, the U.S. Department of State, and the Department of Education; public documentation and reporting; and, where necessary, peaceful public advocacy. These steps are taken reluctantly but decisively when institutions decline to respond.
This is not a call for collective punishment. It is a call for institutional due diligence.
We respectfully request that Union College conduct a transparent review of Ms. Khatami’s appointment and affiliations. Such a review should examine the circumstances of her recruitment, any intermediaries involved, potential conflicts of interest, and whether enhanced vetting standards are warranted in light of escalating geopolitical realities and documented foreign influence efforts tied to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Universities have historically stood at moral crossroads during periods of authoritarian expansion. They have either resisted systems of repression or, through normalization and passivity, inadvertently enabled them. Given your family history shaped by displacement, political imprisonment, and flight from authoritarian rule in Hungary, you understand the consequences of silence in moments like this.
Union College now faces a question of institutional integrity: whether it will acknowledge the broader ethical implications of regime-connected privilege in the United States during a time of extraordinary violence in Iran.
We are asking for transparency, leadership, and courage.
Thank you for your attention and for considering the responsibilities that accompany academic leadership in a time of moral crisis.
Sincerely,
Lawdan Bazargan
Director
Alliance Against the Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA)
February 16, 2026
