Iranian bloggers and opposition Web sites posted video and photographs of a student protest on Monday at Tehran University, suggesting that the unrest that broke out after the disputed June 12 presidential election is not yet at an end.

The Iranian student Web site Advar News reported that hundreds of university students chanted slogans against Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, including “Death to dictator!” and “Ahmadi, Ahmadi, this is the last message, the green movement is ready for uprising!” Another reformist Web site, Norooz, estimated that about a thousand students took part in the demonstration, according to Reuters.

A photograph the Iranian Web site Mowjcamp said was shot on Monday at Tehran University during a protest.

A report on the Web site of The Human Rights Activists News Agency about Monday’s protest was illustrated with dozens of photographs of protesters, many of them carrying green ribbons, banners or balloons. Several more images of what appeared to be a student march were published in a report on the opposition Web site Mowjcamp.

The Web site Mowjcamp reported that Iranian student protesters identified themselves with the opposition leader Mir Hussein Moussavi’s green movement on Monday at Tehran University.

Mr. Ahmadinejad was scheduled to appear at Tehran University but reportedly did not show up or offer an explanation for his absence. Authorities had voiced concerns about student protests at universities as the new school year began and had warned students to refrain from political activities.

Iranian bloggers said that several short snippets of video posted on YouTube showed that a smaller group of students chanted “ Death to dictator!” one day earlier, on Sunday, at the philosophy faculty of Tehran University during an appearance by a former speaker of Iran’s parliament, Gholam Ali Hadad Adel. Mowjcamp reported that among the other slogans chanted during the appearance were “ Shame! Shame! Representative who is against the people!” and “Don’t be scared, we are not thugs!” referring to the Basij militia members who have attacked opposition supporters at protests since June.

Earlier this month Frieda Afary, an Iranian-American translator, published a translation of a recent essay by a student at Amir Kabir University in Tehran called “Why Is the Islamic Republic Afraid of the Humanities?” In her introduction to the English version of the essay, Ms. Afary noted that Iran’s government has attempted to place much of the blame for the post-election protests on the universities and in particular on the teaching of the humanities:

The study of the humanities has become a major focus of Iranian university students during the past decade. Over half of Iran’s 3.5 million university students are enrolled in various branches of this field. In order to combat the effects of this field of study on the minds of young students, the Iranian government has launched a campaign against the humanities. At the recent shows trials of reformists, the prosecution specifically attacked western philosophers and academics for supposedly having instigated the latest protest movement. On August 30, Ayatollah Khamenei also addressed a gathering of professors and university administrators with a stern warning. He blamed the humanities for Iranian students’ “lack of faith,” and called on professors to “identify the enemy” and to revise this field of study.

The essay “Why Is the Islamic Republic Afraid of the Humanities?” was first published by a student using the name Abuzar a few days after Ayatollah Khamenei’s address. Here are excerpts from Ms. Afary’s translation:

In Iran, academics, whether students or professors, have always been highly scrutinized. If we examine contemporary Iranian history, we will see that in the past and the present, the university has been the site of critique, of opposition to, and struggles against the rulers. [...]

In a government like the Islamic Republic freedom of speech and opinion only exist within the framework of the beliefs and interests held by the rulers and the system. There is no need for a person studying law, sociology, philosophy, etc. to become familiar with different philosophic schools of thought, with theories held by various intellectuals, with law as practiced in other countries, or with human rights, etc. After all, isn’t it true that in an Islamic state, all should follow a single school of thought and a single belief? And that is the school of Islam, of course as interpreted by the state authorities.

Therefore, rulers should see to it that no one strays from the path or thinks differently. And if the rulers don’t begin the surveillance at the university, the task of controlling dissident and diverse beliefs and theories in the society as a whole becomes very difficult, if not impossible. This explains why those who rule the system are concerned about the increasing numbers of students in the humanities and their own inability to control them.

Likewise, in the latest show trials, the attacks have been aimed at the humanities, intellectuals and philosophers. Even Saeed Hajjarian [former adviser to president Mohammad Khatami -- tr. ] says the following in his confessions (which are not really his own words): “Teaching the theories of the humanities in Iran’s universities has been a factor leading to waste and destruction of public property after the recent election.”

For years, the Islamic Republic has attempted to dismantle the field of humanities, and to limit it or teach it in a selective way. Years ago, it started to cleanse the universities devoted to the study of the humanities. Great scholars in various fields like sociology, psychology, law, literature, political science, etc. were expelled or forced to resign. Many students were denied an education. Many limitations were imposed on the universities. Now, the Islamic Republic is making an ultimate effort to further limit the teaching of the humanities in order to deny future Iranian society the presence of thinkers, philosophers, intellectuals, and scholars.