Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship at odd with the rest of the world's academic institutions". Eslamain asked for the university's governing board to be informed of "the Iranian views", and finished by saying, "Surely, your steps to achieve your attractions through non-politically supported programmes can better heal the wounds of her family and her nation". There was also a report of a demonstration outside the British Embassy in Tehran against the scholarship. A group of female protesters were said by the Iranian news agency Fars to have chanted "Death to Britain". In response, Madden emphasised that the scholarship was to help Iranian students without adequate
Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship that the scholarship could be Agha-Soltan's "most important legacy". The college has denied that it took a political decision in establishing the scholarship, stating that it aims to attract and support the best students, and arguing that refusal of the donations would itself have been a political act. Anonymous British diplomatic sources were reported as saying that the creation of the scholarship had put "another nail into the coffin" of relations between Britain and Iran. Neda Agha-Soltan, a 26-year-old philosophy student, was shot and killed on 20 June 2009 during street protests in Iran that followed the disputed presidential election.