The University of Massachusetts Amherst today announced that it will accept Iranian students into science and engineering programs, reversing a controversial decision announced earlier this month to ban such students from the programs.
After administrators had made the call, students bemoaned the decision as a blow to the university’s diversity, saying it hurt the Iranian community’s feelings and betrayed their trust. Some also called it racist.
“American’s religious arrogance separates Islam as the exception – other religions aren’t automatically viewed as violent or fundamentalist,” student Alisina Saee-Nazari said in an op-ed in the campus newspaper. “It is this bigotry that excludes people from higher education, and sends Iranian students home.”
Students also created a “No to the UMass Educational Ban on Iranian Nationals” Facebook page.
Mohsen Jalali, a UMass graduate student studying political science and member of the Iranian Graduate Students Association, told the campus newspaper he believes the university is “framing a discriminatory policy as law compliance.”
“It is very specific in the law that is says that it applies to the field of visas … it is not the job of the University and educational institutions to enforce the law,” he said. “They are policing people, not complying with any law.”
Now the school says it will develop individualized study plans to meet the requirements of federal sanctions law and address the impact on students, a reversal based on “consultation with the State Department and outside counsel.”
“This approach reflects the university’s longstanding commitment to wide access to educational opportunities,” Michael Malone, vice chancellor for research and engagement, stated in a news release. “We have always believed that excluding students from admission conflicts with our institutional values and principles. It is now clear, after further consultation and deliberation, that we can adopt a less restrictive policy.”
The statement goes on to clarify that “federal law, the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, requires that the U.S. Department of State deny visas to Iranian students wishing to engage in certain fields of study related to the energy sector, nuclear science, nuclear engineering or a related field at U.S. colleges and universities. To comply with the law and its impacts, UMass Amherst will develop individualized study plans as appropriate based on a student’s projected coursework and research in conjunction with an offer of admission. The plan will be updated as required during a student’s course of study.”
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