The former President of the biggest social science University in Iran told a newspaper that he decided to sack a sociology professor because she discussed homosexuality in her class.

In his lengthy September 4 interview with Kayhan newspaper, the controversial Hojatol-Islam Dr. Shariati defended his decisions to fire a large number of professors by accusing them of being morally corrupt. The former President of Allameh Tabbatabii University told the paper, "One of those professors went to the class and told her students that homosexuality is a good thing...She is a sociologist... what should I do with her... Qoran tells me [homosexuality] is a moral decay... is satanism... Now, are you telling me that I should let this professor to stay on faculty? No way.. that's not me..."

Dr. Sadr-Aldin Shariati, is a radical Shiite clergyman who was appointed as the president of Allameh Tabatabai University in October 2005, shortly after former President Ahmadinejad came to power.

During his Tenure as the president of the university, Dr. Shariati gained notoriety for his so-called Islamization of academia, which included purging the campus from faculty and students who were perceived to not be committed to state-ideology, enforcing sexual segregation of classes, and eliminating courses that were deemed unnecessary (including tourism and hospitality).

Despite wide-spread protests from students, Dr. Shariati's measures were met with praise from President Ahmadinejad's administration, earning him the official title of "the best university president" by the Iranian Ministry of Science for two consecutive years. (Source)

Mr. Shariati's eight-year reign of terror came to an end on September 2, 2013, when the new Minister of Science of President Rouhani's administration decided to let him go.

Although Dr. Shariati did not mention the name of the sociology professor in his interview, internet research shows that as early as October 2008, a group of religious students were complaining about one of the professors for discussing homosexuality in the class. In a blog post titled "What is going on at Allameh University", the authors claimed that "Dr. Sh A runs a family planning class, which she uses as a platform to officially promote homosexuality and to encourage female students to engage in sex before marriage... she also tells her class that abortion is a natural right for all women and recommends it.... she passed a list of gay cruising areas to her students so that they can visit them..."

In January of 2011, Dr. Shirin Ahmadinia, a faculty member of the sociology department who used to teach medical sociology and health at Allameh Tabatabai University wrote a blog post to announce the decision of the university to cancel all her classes. Dr Ahmadinia earned her PhD in sociology from Warwick University in 2000 and has authored a number of books, including "The Sociology of Female Body". She is currently the head of the medical and health section of the Iranian Sociological Association.