Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 10, 1995                   TAG: 9506120046
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-10   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY  
SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                  LENGTH: Medium

PROFESSOR AT UVA LEADS PETITION DRIVE FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM

R.K. Ramazani, who was born in Iran but is a naturalized American citizen, got 70 academics nationwide to sign the letter. It warns Clinton the ban could jeopardize ``both the enlightened national interest of the United States and the principle of academic freedom.''

The experts signing the letter included historians, anthropologists, political scientists and sociologists from major universities.

Clinton issued the ban on May 6. It prohibits, among other things, ``the importation into the United States ... of any goods and services of Iranian origin, other than Iranian-origin publications and materials imported for news publications or news broadcast dissemination.''

The order seems to prevent educators and policy analysts from using academic materials from Iran for research, said Ramazani. The professor, 67, is one of the United States' foremost authorities on Iran.

``A bureaucrat can sit in Washington and say this can't happen: somebody has subscribed to an Iranian journal,'' Ramazani said. ``I cannot teach my students based on what I read in the New York Times and the Washington Post. When you teach about other societies, you cannot be ignorant.''

A White House spokeswoman confirmed Ramazani's letter had been received, but said she could not comment on personal correspondence between citizens and the president.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury Department, charged with enforcing the ban, said it is in force, although Ramazani said no regulations have been issued by the department.

The United States has had a ban on most kinds of trade with Iran since the Reagan administration, but Clinton's order was meant to prohibit U.S. subsidiaries operating outside the country from doing business with the country.

Ramazani said keeping scholars from studying Iran and America's foreign policy toward it could prove dangerous for future relations.

``This academia is the only channel of communication open, and my own philosophy is not only should you know your friends, you should even know your enemies,'' Ramazani said. ``Even if Iran is the No. 1 American enemy, we should know it.''

His letter also complains that a May 8 statement by White House Press Secretary Michael McCurry announcing the order ``can be interpreted in such a way as to infringe upon the free intellectual inquiry by scholars.''

McCurry said the executive order permits ``the identification and listing by the Treasury Department of persons acting on behalf of or as agents of the Government of Iran, as `Specially Designated Nationals of Iran.'''

``Hence,'' Ramazani wrote, ``it is possible that a Treasury official may identify an academic expert's criticism of U.S. policy toward Iran as `acting on behalf of the Government of Iran.'''

``I have lived through the McCarthy era,'' Ramazani said. ``When the atmosphere gets charged, people can take liberties with a law or directive. All of this is to express a concern that these things don't happen.''