U.S. Professors and Activists Participate In Tehran University Conference On Occupy Wall Street

U.S. academics participated in an Occupy Wall Street (OWS) conference held this month at Tehran University, in which, according to Iran’s Press TV, “university professors and scholars from around the world discussed various aspects of [the] Occupy Wall Street Movement” and “talked about the nature of the people that take part in the Wall Street movement, what effects it has had up to now, and its future.”

One academic, Prof. Alex Vitae of Brooklyn College, discussed the impact of OWS “locally and nationally” and pondered “whether or not this will have momentum that could have more far-reaching implications.” Prof. Heather Gautney of Fordham University noted that the Occupy movement is “entering more into social institutions, and trying to pressure politicians or pressure leadership” and said that she thought “that the movement is going to be incredibly active in pressuring politicians to start addressing issues of social inequality.” Both she and Vitae mentioned OWS’s possible impact on the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.