"Universities should be a venue for dialogue. As student representatives, we are walking out of this venue in protest," a union leader declared loudly, interrupting a speech by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during an Oct. 16 ceremony that marked a belated commencement of the academic year at the University of Tehran — the country's largest higher education center.

The union leaders were infuriated by what they found as a "selective" process allowing only a handpicked number of students to speak at the podium. They decried the "show" and "an atmosphere of flattery" staged by Rouhani subordinates at a venue where many seats remained vacant.

"You have only one year left to your presidency and still want to maintain this policy of censorship and selectiveness?" one student asked Rouhani on Twitter as videos of the disrupted speech went viral. Others highlighted the ordeal of several fellow student activists, who are either serving hefty jail terms or facing bans, among them Soha Mortezaee, who has been staging a sit-in at Tehran University to draw attention to her case. Despite passing entry exams that would get her into a Ph.D. program in political science, she is facing an official ban due to political activities and an imprisonment record.

It was not clear what the protesting students would have told Rouhani if given the podium. But at small protests outside, some were holding different signs. "You can't solve problems by stifling dissent," one placard read.