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The young man spent the tumultuous summer making Molotov cocktails used in the street demonstrations, spray-painting walls with antigovernment slogans and distributing leaflets supporting the leading opposition figure, Mir-Hussein Mousavi. But he was no ordinary hooligan: he also happened to be a top law-school student at University of Tehran, an idealist who was hoping to use his degree to really get under the regime's skin. 

Then, a few weeks ago, authorities notified the 24-year-old student that he was not welcome back to campus — ever — despite having only one semester left to go. "I was going to continue the protests with my law degree in a more effective manner," the thin, curly-haired student told TIME. "But now I am just a simple pedestrian." His story is similar to that of other Iranians interviewed by TIME who have either been suspended or thrown out of school, lending credence to emerging reports of a widespread purge of universities by ruling hard-liners worried about a resurgence of protests when campuses reopen on Sept. 23.