Iran has been under a government-sanctioned internet outage since Jan. 8.

Reporters, companies and – worst of all – an estimated 92 million citizens have had little to no internet access and connection to the outside world.

According to a UCLA spokesperson, UCLA has 864 domestic and international undergraduates of Iranian descent. Tehrangeles, a cultural hub for the Persian population of Los Angeles, is situated in Westwood, just minutes from campus.

UCLA’s proximity to Iranian culture demands that the university must provide more support for its Iranian students.

Many students and staff at UCLA have family members and friends in Iran that they have barely been able to contact.

“I have my brother there. I did not hear from him at all so there’s no way of connecting him,” said an Iranian parent of a UCLA student, who was granted anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the Iranian government.

Citizens of Iran have been protesting the Iranian regime and advocating for reform of their tyrannical government. The regime responded by starting one of the longest internet shutdowns in history.

[Related: Thousands of people protest in Westwood for Iranian regime change]

Phone calls to citizens of Iran are treated as signs of life instead of simple check-ins with loved ones.

“We have a lot of cousins in Iran and I will go and text them and ask are they okay,” said an Iranian student who was also granted anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the Iranian government. “I have no idea if they’re alive or not and just have no response because there’s no internet.”

The current active hostile state of Iran against its citizens makes their safety a great concern. The ban on the internet only makes the anxiety for their family members and friends at UCLA worse.

However, most support has come from students themselves rather than from the university. Undergraduate students at UCLA have banded together in support of those in Iran.

“Going to these protests with all my Persian friends on Sundays, it definitely brings together the Iranian community,” the anonymous student said.

This fight for freedom cannot be won alone. It is vital that UCLA supports its Iranian community during this outage.

A slogan used in protests of the regime’s cruelty is “Don’t Stop Talking About Iran.” As allies of the Bruin Iranian community, we must prioritize educating one another on the horrors facing the Iranian people.

“A lot of people are uneducated on what’s actually happening within Iran,” the anonymous student said.

One step each member of UCLA’s community can take to support the cause is to seek out information on the Iranian regime’s actions in Iran. The death and harm facing Iran’s citizens is going widely unheard in the United States. Human rights are on the line in Iran and UCLA as an educational institution should be doing all it can to spread awareness on this injustice.

People in Iran are advocating for their freedom, even with the fear of not living to see the next day.

“My brother told me that the reason people went out was because of all these pressures that they have been through, economically, and they wanted to finally have their words be heard but unfortunately, it went very badly,” the anonymous parent said.

Everyone at UCLA must stand in solidarity with our Iranian population and fight for the rights of the people of Iran. Help support our Iranian Bruins amidst this cruelty by talking about Iran and educating one another on the state of the country and its people.

“The hope that we will have a bright future, that hope is something that makes us all united,” the anonymous parent said.

Educate yourselves and others on the injustices occurring to the people in Iran. Reach out to those who are affected by the outage and give them a helping hand, whether that is emailing the university about more resources they could be providing or attending an on campus protest.

Imagine how you would feel if your family and friends were unreachable. Stand in solidarity knowing that the people you are standing with do not have the luxury of just imagining that scenario.

They are living it.