My Iranian College Roommate, Cyrus - What He Taught Me

The Higgins 6 Crew from 1977 with Cyrus in the middle (with blue jacket) & me in gold dorm shirt

Today’s news about the US and Israeli attack on Iran takes me back to the fall of 1977 — my first year at Western Illinois University in McComb, Illinois.

WIU had around 17,000 students at the time and a noticeable number of international students, including several from Iran. Most of the Iranian students kept to themselves. They dressed in dark clothes, spoke Farsi, and rarely mixed with American students. To an 18-year-old kid from Illinois, they seemed distant and mysterious.

Then I met Gholam Hussein Soltani — better known as Cyrus, because nobody could pronounce his real name.

He was the only Iranian student I really got to know, and he was nothing like the others.

The first time I saw him, he was wrapped in bandages. His car had overheated, and he’d opened the radiator cap too soon. Scalding coolant sprayed across his face and chest. He lived down the hall from me on the sixth floor of Higgins Hall. He wore a sailor’s cap and a denim vest with no shirt. His smile was wide, his handshake strong. He was eager to meet everyone.

It didn’t take long before Cyrus became part of our group — a ragtag collection of mostly Chicago-area guys thrown together by dorm assignments and fate. There was Marty, the boxer from the South Side; Tom, the artist from Elk Grove Village; Gomez, our Puerto Rican buddy; Tim, the Vietnam vet; me — and Cyrus. We were there to party and, with luck, earn a degree. Mostly, we majored in beer drinking, skipping classes to go fishing, and chasing girls. It was the 1970s. That sort of behavior was considered normal.

But Cyrus was different in the best possible ways. He was a terrific cook, could cut hair like a pro, cleaned fish with surgical precision, and drank vodka straight from the bottle. He blasted Neil Young and Crazy Horse at full volume. And when it came to politics — especially Iran — he was light years ahead of the rest of us.

That fall, unrest in Iran was building toward revolution. Cyrus explained the Shah, the protests, and SAVAK — the secret police who monitored dissidents at home and abroad. When we invited him to move into a rented house with us for the following school year, he hesitated. He told us he might be under surveillance. SAVAK kept tabs on Iranian students in the U.S., especially those suspected of opposing the Shah. They liked to abduct and torture them. Sound familiar?

We told him we didn’t care who was watching as long as he paid his share of the rent and bought beer occasionally.

Through Cyrus, I had my first real education about the wider world. The Shah, backed by the United States, was seen by many Iranians as corrupt, repressive and brutal. Protests were massive. The regime answered with censorship, arrests, and torture.

In early 1979, the Shah fled. Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was a seismic shift. I asked Cyrus whether it would be better.

He shook his head.

Khomeini, he said, was a religious extremist. The repression would continue — just under a different banner. The culture clock would be turned back about a thousand years.

That regime has held power ever since, at least until this morning.

After graduation, I moved back to Joliet. Cyrus visited once before returning to Iran. We said goodbye, not knowing it would be the last time. Five or ten years later, I learned through a mutual friend that Cyrus had been killed in the Iran-Iraq War.

The news hit hard.

Cyrus wasn’t a caricature from a headline. He wasn’t “Iran.” He was my friend — smart, funny, principled, and hopeful. He wanted what most people want: honest leadership and a country worthy of its people. He would have made a good leader himself.

I still think about him. And today, as the drums of war beat again, I can’t help but wish that the kind of future he hoped for — for himself and for Iran — had somehow come to pass.  Especially today.

I’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts. Have you ever known someone like Cyrus? If so, did knowing that person change or inform the way that you thought about their country?  I hope our exchanges remain thoughtful, respectful, and productive. 

If you try to comment and receive an error message, your browser may be blocking third-party cookies. You can select “Anonymous” in the “Comment as” field and simply include your name or initials if you prefer.

Thank you for reading—and for walking this road with me.