Courtesy of Banafsheh Zand Bonazzi, here is a translation of a letter recently sent by the reformist student organization in Iran to President Ahmadinezad, and a note on his change of plans on making a cameo appearance on a Tehran campus at the start of the academic year. It seems like good news to me:

An Open Letter to Ahmadinejad from the Central Council of the Consolidation of Unity (Tahkim Vahdat) On Sunday, Mehr 8th, 1386 (September 30th, 2007) Advaar News: in an open letter, the student union of the consolidation of unity addressed Ahmadinejad’s intention of attending the Tehran University on the occasion of the commencement of the new scholastic year The text of this letter reads: Mr. Ahmadinejad, Hello, As the elected representatives of the largest critical student assembly we extend our greetings to you so that we can live up to our vows to ourselves, not wanting the worst for anyone; even if that individual is the head of a government who at Columbia University speaks of the unparalleled freedom in Iran, as well as his wonderful treatment of his critics and those who think differently (than he), speaks of women’s rights and liberties, all the while having his intelligence and security agents chasing us down, throwing us in solitary cells of ward 209 of Evin…for months on end, interrogating us; and during the last 2 years of his presidency the authorities of his ministry of education and sciences have abolished or suspended 43 critical student assemblies from fraternities to cultural and Islamic cooperatives and more than 550 students have been sent to the disciplinary committees in order to be punished for the crime of expressing their opinions and even though more than 70 members of this council (meaning Tahkim itself) have been arrested, many of whom are student critics with (demerit) stars and have been prohibited from further education and whose professors have also been fired for having opinions differing from that of the regime and the girls in his (Ahmadinejad’s) country are denied an education for the crime of simply being female…and if the price of his arbitrary munificence and generosity to south American countries creates a budget deficit in his own country’s universities…and his very reckless speeches about the holocaust and his actions in the face of international sanctions and the privation that he bestows on the people of his own country.
Yes, we start again with hello because as we have said, time and time again that our only wishes are for pride in Iran and Iranians and it is due to this that we pursue democracy in Iran and peace in the world, even though the price of that is imprisonment and privation from education (due to dismissal from university).
Mr. Ahmadinejad! At Colombia University you called Iran one of the freest countries in the world and you asked the defamers to visit our country, promising that you would treat them hospitably and amicably. However you should know that many believe that the crimes of the 3 Amir Kabir university students was protesting against your presence at Amir Kabir University and those forged publications were just excuses to take (your) critics to the slaughterhouse. Many believe that you have invested all your might in oppressing your critics, women, teachers, workers, journalists and the slightest criticism will be met with the worst kind of punishment.
We have heard that you will be coming to the (Tehran) university. Indeed if all questions and criticisms are answerable then among (your) handpicked guests whom you will have placed around the auditorium, allow only one member of the central council of this assembly to attend tomorrow in order to pose his/her questions to the head of the freest country of the world!
We expect your response tomorrow. Undoubtedly everyone would want to be witness to the encounter of a man who invited the world to come to his country to inquire for themselves, with his own countrymen. Remember that posterity will have recorded what this man did with students of his own country.
The central council of the consolidation of unity
Mehr 8th, 1386
On Monday however, Ahmadinejad’s scheduled visit to attend this morning’s commencement ceremony of the 1386-1387 scholastic year of Tehran university’s centers for research and technology, that was to take place in the Allameh Amini auditorium of the central library of Tehran University, was cancelled. Previously too, on the actual first day of classes (on Sept. 22nd) Ahmadinejad was scheduled to appear at Tehran University but because it interfered with his travel plans to New York the visit was postponed. The public relations office of Tehran university’s centers for research and technology, in a statement, announced the postponement of his visit to another, as of yet unknown date.
Observers believe that the “postponement” is out of fear of the repetition of last December’s events at Amir Kabir University where Ahmadinejad was jeered and chased out by student protestors. The news of that protest hit international media and 3 of students photographs were recklessly published in these reports lead to the arrests of these innocent students. They are still in detention and several others are in fact in hiding.

ME: I guess the Columbia students are more impressed, huh? Meanwhile, as Michael Rubin reminds us, there is still not a word from this administration on behalf of the Islamic Republic’s many political prisoners, including two courageous trade union leaders whose health is reportedly deteriorating. How could it not? Won’t even the Labor Department say something on their behalf? Or is this administration’s Iran policy entirely composed of misleading Norman Podhoretz and leaking disinformation to Seymour Hersh?