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College of Humanities and Social Sciences
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Undergraduate Ceremony
Undergraduate Ceremony
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Email Evan Baum, Director of Undergraduate Academic Programs, at ebaum@gmu.edu.
Honored speakers: Dr. Haleh Esfandiari and Dr. Shaul Bakhash
In December 2006, Haleh Esfandiari, the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., was visiting her 93-year-old mother in Tehran, Iran. She was prevented from leaving the country, deprived of her American and Iranian passports, subjected to intensive interrogation by agents of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, and eventually arrested and taken to Evin Prison, where she spent 105 days in solitary confinement. Her interrogators insisted that the Wilson Center, think tanks, foundations, research centers and universities in this country were part of an American government plan to bring about a regime change in Iran.
During the many months she was detained in Iran, her husband, Shaul Bakhash, a Robinson Professor of History at George Mason University, her Wilson Center colleagues, and Wilson Center President Lee Hamilton mounted a campaign to secure her release.
Influential international figures, some of the world’s major newspapers, and human rights organizations called for Esfandiari’s release. A tireless letter writing campaign, statements in support of Esfandiari by both Houses of Congress, Esfandiari’s former students, prominent scholars, and hundreds of women in Middle Eastern countries finally paid off. In August 2007, Esfandiari was released on bail. She left Iran to be reunited with her family and friends.
For the first time, they will tell both sides of their story at the Humanities and Social Sciences undergraduate convocation ceremony. Read More >>
During the many months she was detained in Iran, her husband, Shaul Bakhash, a Robinson Professor of History at George Mason University, her Wilson Center colleagues, and Wilson Center President Lee Hamilton mounted a campaign to secure her release.
Influential international figures, some of the world’s major newspapers, and human rights organizations called for Esfandiari’s release. A tireless letter writing campaign, statements in support of Esfandiari by both Houses of Congress, Esfandiari’s former students, prominent scholars, and hundreds of women in Middle Eastern countries finally paid off. In August 2007, Esfandiari was released on bail. She left Iran to be reunited with her family and friends.For the first time, they will tell both sides of their story at the Humanities and Social Sciences undergraduate convocation ceremony. Read More >>