On September 16th, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman named Jina Mahsa Amini was brutally beaten, tortured, and murdered by so-called “Morality Police” in Iran for allegedly failing to meet the regime’s standards of hair covering. Anti-government protests erupted throughout Iran the following day. These protests have been led primarily by Iranian women and youth and have been met with arrests, brutality, and death, especially of younger protestors. 

We make this petition respectfully urging University of Pittsburgh's Chancellor Patrick Gallagher to make an official public statement acknowledging the atrocities taking place against women and youth in Iran and the regime’s suppression of Iranian voices, as it is our priority to bring public attention to this matter.

An official public statement will make the Iranian students, faculty, and alumni of Pitt feel supported and heard, enabling the greater Pitt communities to understand the gravity of the situation in Iran.

Additionally, we are kindly requesting the University of Pittsburgh to:[1]
(i)             Provide an application fee waiver for Iranians as the current economic and political situation as well as the degraded internet access make paying these fees difficult for students coming from Iran.
(ii)           Extend the deadline for the submission of applications and test scores as students in Iran may not have the opportunity to take online tests amid internet blackouts.
(iii)         Temporarily modify university policy to accept unofficial transcripts coming from Iran as Iranian university administration and staff have been negatively impacted by recent events.
(iv)          Work with clinical departments at the University of Pittsburgh and Iranian community leaders to provide mental health resources for students and faculty of the University of Pittsburgh affected by the current state of Iran, as Iranian students and faculty at Pitt are experiencing a collective trauma.
(v)           Start collecting data on the number of students, faculty, and staff who identify as either Middle Eastern or North African as they are currently left out of the Diversity Dashboard statistics and therefore left out of research on disparities the university community faces in education, employment, and other inclinations.  

[1] This list is inspired by the 1969 Pitt Black Action Society’s list of demands sent to Chancellor Wesley W. Posvar in efforts to create a better environment for Black students on campus. https://sites.pitt.edu/~sorc/bas/history.html