U. Mass. Will Not Admit Iranian Students to Schools of Engineering and Natural Sciences (Updated)

02.12.15

This announcement was recently posted on the website of the graduate school of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst:

The University has determined that recent governmental sanctions pose a significant challenge to its ability to provide a full program of education and research for Iranian students in certain disciplines and programs. Because we must ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, the University has determined that it will no longer admit Iranian national students to specific programs in the College of Engineering (i.e., Chemical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Mechanical & Industrial Engineering) and in the College of Natural Sciences (i.e., Physics, Chemistry, Microbiology, and Polymer Science & Engineering) effective February 1, 2015.

The full announcement and reasoning (US sanctions on Iran) behind this new policy can be found here.

During the fight over the American Studies Association’s vote for an academic boycott of Israel, putative defenders of academic freedom made a lot of noise about the threat that the boycott posed to academic exchange and international conversation.

But as many of us pointed out the time, nothing in the ASA vote precluded the exchange of individual scholars or students between the United States and Israel.

Now we have a public university, claiming to act in accordance with US policy, officially banning Iranian national students from entire graduate schools.

Will those putative defenders of academic freedom from the BDS fight speak out against this policy—and speak out far more forcefully than they did then, since this policy really does threaten academic freedom in the way they imagined the academic boycott did?

Or will they defend the university’s decision on the grounds of national security or the need for universities to act in accordance with US law? If they take that path, of course, they’re merely admitting the point most of suspected they believed in anyway: that academic freedom really is not their highest value at all.

So what will those defenders of academic freedom say—and, more important, do—now?

Updated (February 13, 12 pm)

So I’ve spoken with a few experts on the US sanctions regime to see whether U. Mass’s policy is necessitated by it. More on that in a minute. First, some other updates.

1. Turns out that Kaplan, which is a US-based educational company, is implementing an even more draconian version of the policy over in Britain. For similar reasons as U. Mass. And it’s caused some problems.

Kaplan, a US-owned education provider in the UK, is refusing students who are residents of Iran enrolment in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects as well as any of its post-graduate courses, citing US sanctions.

Applications for more than a dozen Iranians students have been withdrawn since autumn 2013 because the company felt it had to comply with the US regulations and sanctions policy regarding the country.

Critics say sanctions were put in place to punish Iranian authorities, not ordinary people, and that such interpretations were based on a misreading of the policy.

Iranian students studying in Britain’s public universities can generally take such courses.

2. The Washington Institute on Near East Policy, which generally takes a strong pro-Israel line, has a paper on the larger issue of Iranian nationals seeking an education in the US. On pp. 34-38, they explicitly take up the questions addressed by the U. Mass. policy. Amazingly, they come down in favor of a policy of more open access and against collective punishment. Though the specific issue they consider is that of the US government’s multiple-entry visa policies versus single-entry visa policies, the basic point of their conclusion is that the government’s visa regime is already strict enough without requiring further and more general forms of discrimination against all Iranian nationals.

The broad denial of multiple-entry visas to Iranian students in the STEM disciplines—who constitute not only the majority of Iranian students in the United States but the highest percentage of STEM students from any country—reflects a disproportionate response to a geopolitical situation in which most Iranian students have little involvement. More than any other challenge Iranian students face, the denial of multiple-entry visas—especially after announcement of the initiative to issue them—causes significant hardship, in addition to hurting Iranian goodwill toward the United States.

Another apparent incongruity involves the overlap between U.S. law and visa-issuance policy. For instance, Section 306 of EBSVRA affirms that no individual from a state sponsor of international terrorism can receive a nonimmigrant visa to the United States, except if it can be guaranteed that such an individual does “not pose a threat to the safety or national security of the United States.” Moreover, Section 501 of the 2012 Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act affirms that a visa must be denied to any Iranian citizen who “seeks to enter the United States to participate in coursework at an institution of higher education…for a career in the energy sector of Iran or in nuclear science or nuclear engineering or a related field in Iran.”

The text of these laws makes clear that no student deemed a threat for technology transfer can be issued a visa in the first place, a measure that starting in 2012 was even extended to students studying petroleum engineering.

3. Last night, after my post went up, the National Iranian American Council issued a strong statement against the U. Mass policy.

The University’s actions constitute an overly broad interpretation its obligations under sanctions….

4. Which leads me to the experts.

One expert on the sanctions regime I spoke with is Tyler Cullis, a legal fellow and policy associate at the National Iranian American Council. I asked him whether and to what extent U. Mass’s policy was necessitated by the government’s sanctions regime. This is what he wrote back to me:

If you look at the provision at issue (Section 501 of the Iran Threat Reduction Act), it doesn’t obligate universities at all:

SEC. 501. EXCLUSION OF CITIZENS OF IRAN SEEKING EDUCATION RELATING TO THE NUCLEAR AND ENERGY SECTORS OF IRAN.

(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall deny a visa to, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall exclude from the United States, any alien who is a citizen of Iran that the Secretary of State determines seeks to enter the United States to participate in coursework at an institution of higher education (as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001(a))) to prepare the alien for a career in the energy sector of Iran or in nuclear science or nuclear engineering or a related field in Iran.

(b) APPLICABILITY.—Subsection (a) applies with respect to visa applications filed on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

It obligates the State Dept. to deny visas to “aliens who are citizens from Iran” and who participate in coursework to prepare the “alien for” certain careers in Iran. If a visa is issued for an Iranian national to study at a US university, then the State Dept. has made the determination at issue.

The only issue I see arising is one that UMass cites: Iranian students being denied reentry after traveling abroad. If that’s the case and students are being denied reentry for taking coursework in the fields UMass cites, then the problem is the State Dept.

In a second email, he clarified further:

(I want to be clear, however, that I believe this was a misreading of the statutory provision. I haven’t seen the State Dept. read Sec. 501 as broadly as UMass suggests.)

FYI: Here’s a proper reading:

http://global.upenn.edu/isss/news/2012/09/05/iran

The University of Pennsylvania’s policy is consistent with what Tullis says: there is no need for additional measures by a university. If there is a problem with reentry, that ought to be tackled through the government, not through blanket bans by a university.

I got a much different response from Sam Cutler, who is a policy advisor, not a lawyer, at Ferrari and Associates, a law firm whose sole focus is sanctions policy. I had asked him if “this policy is indeed truly necessitated by the sanctions program or not.” The following exchange ensued (I am reproducing it with Cutler’s permission).

Cutler:

Thanks for the inquiry. The answer is probably – Iranian students in the United States are authorized to perform the activities for which their visa has been granted and U.S. persons are authorized to provide services to Iranian students consistent with those visas. Pursuant to Section 501 of the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012, the State Department is prohibited from granting visas to Iranian students seeking access to higher education in order to “to prepare the alien for a career in the energy sector of Iran or in nuclear science or nuclear engineering or a related field in Iran.” UMass likely concluded that they were therefore prohibited from teaching i.e. providing a service, to Iranian students for courses that are directly relevant to these prohibited industries.

Additionally, my understanding is that for certain advanced classes or research, certain technology and/or software is used that would require a license from the Commerce Department to provide to an Iranian, which would require specific authorization.

I’m actually a bit surprised it took UMass this long, I’ve heard a number of schools cut off Iranian students from these types of classes a while ago.

Me:

When you say “the answer is probably”: do you mean that it probably is truly necessitated by the sanctions program?

Cutler:

I believe that there is a chance it could be interpreted by OFAC as a violation and since that is the case, most institutions will do whatever they can do comply.

Me:

So I’ve been checking around and it seems like most institutions, particularly the top ones, have no such policy. Folks at MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, Michigan: no one can find anything remotely like this. In fact, this is the only university where we can even identify something like this. If it’s such a rational response of universities to the sanctions regime, why is no one doing it (assuming I’ve got that right)?

Cutler:

I can’t speak for those universities but I can tell you we’ve advised universities on this specific issue before. Some schools may not have official or publicized policies but I can tell you that it is happening.

Regarding timing, it’s possible that they are worried that if there is no nuclear deal that Treasury is going to be looking for scalps.

Me:

Do you mean that you’ve advised universities to adopt these policies?

Any sense of which universities have adopted these policies? Or how many?

Cutler:

We’ve advised on the requirements of the law and potential risks in the event OFAC determines that there is a violation of the law.

I obviously can’t disclose past clients and couldn’t give you a number on universities that have policies specifically related to this issue. However, every university has an export controls and sanctions policy.

And Cutler again:

Just to clarify, we have not been formally retained by any universities to advise on this issue, but we’ve provided informal guidance to compliance personnel at universities.

So that’s it.

Hard to know how to read all this. Cutler’s part of a firm that advises universities on compliance, and can’t give me a list of other universities that have implemented a policy like U. Mass’s. Thus far, I haven’t been able to find any written policy like U. Mass’s.

Oh, wait, there’s one more thing:

As of 12 pm, Friday, 2/13, there is no longer any mention of the Iranian national student policy on the U. Mass. website.

And when you go to the link where the full policy was stated previously, you see the following:

Will keep you posted.

Updated (February 16, 2:45 pm)

As I reported over the weekend, the website is back up. Also, the State Department expressed puzzlement over the university’s policy, seeming to suggest it was not required or warranted. The real problem, I suggested in this post, may be this freelance “advice industry” that serves as the go-between the government and the academy.

Today, in Inside Higher Ed, UMass announces that it is sticking by its policy. The online magazine also reports that two other universities—Virginia Commonwealth and Rennselear Polytechnic Institute—have similar policies.

Here’s a taste of what these policies might mean in practice.

24 Comments

milx February 12, 2015 at 9:28 pm | #

Let’s all just be honest, Corey. Neither you nor they hold academic freedom as your highest value but just a chip to play with when debating Israel in the public sphere. I notice you haven’t had a lot to say about Marquette University suspending John McAdams’ tenure, but you took on Salaita as your own personal crusade. I wonder if that has anything to do with the kinds of opinions Salaita got in trouble for, versus the ones McAdams did.

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- Corey Robin February 12, 2015 at 10:09 pm | #
  
  It hasn’t been fully demonstrated to me that McAdams is in fact having his tenure revoked merely for his opinions. There are real questions about his conduct toward students that have been raised — conduct that lies in a grey area between speech and harassment — and that make his case more complicated for me than a simple academic freedom/freedom of speech case. I’m genuinely torn on that case and haven’t really made up my mind about it, but continue to read arguments on both sides. The Salaita case was a pure academic freedom/free speech case, so in that respect it was far less complicated.
  
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  - thenewobjective February 13, 2015 at 3:14 pm | #
    
    The case against McAdams hasn’t been initiated because of anything he’s said in his work or classes, his curricula haven’t been interfered with, etc, so I don’t understand how the argument can be made that the incident at Marquette has anything to do with academic freedom. He had been warned about his potentially abusive behavior in his blog posts before this most recent incident. He knew what he was getting into, therefore, when publishing the PhD student’s name. So, not to get off topic, can someone explain to me the case that Marquette has violated his academic freedom?
    
    As for what’s going on at UMass, I worked as an administrator in a dept of Int’l Education for 3 years and I understand how difficult compliance with US regulations can be for both students and administrators. My first reaction was the office, charged with reporting to ICE every time a student changes their major or accepts a new job off campus, deemed the US sanctions too difficult to keep up with and decided to just bar Iranian students. The re-entry problem is somewhat common, in my experience, students from certain countries aren’t granted Multiple Entry F1 visas, but instead must reapply for a visa whenever they leave the country. I’ve seen this happen to students from China, from some Eastern European countries… From my experience and from what I’ve heard from colleagues at other universities, it’s not uncommon for such students to remain in the US for the duration of their studies, which is a terrible thing to inflict on a student. In any case, none of this justifies the policy being enacted by UMASS from my point of view.
    
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words_and_music February 13, 2015 at 8:59 am | #

The July 2013 DHS “clarification” restricting both prospective students and colleges is harsh—so much so that I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it till now—and appears to leave remarkably little wiggle room for UMass, or any other university. How can they continue to admit Iranian engineering students and not violate the law?

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Mark Hillery February 13, 2015 at 10:32 am | #

This reaction is extreme, but, unfortunately, this kind of thing has a history. In 2004 the US Treasury Department issued a ruling stating that editing or publishing manuscripts from Iran, Libya, Sudan and Cuba violated the trade embargo on those countries (Nature, 427, 663 (2004)). In response, a number of scientific societies, such as the IEEE (electrical engineering), stopped accepting submissions from Iran. Several other societies, among them the American Physical Society (physics), refused to comply and brought suit against the US government. The government backed down and allowed journals to continue to accept submissions from these countries. At that point the societies that had stopped accepting submissions from these countries again accepted them. The American Chemical Society behaved the worst. They not only stopped accepting paper submitted from Iran but also expelled their Iranian members. Both of these actions were subsequently reversed.

I had a run in with these regulations myself. A few years ago I had to fill out a form from the CUNY Research Foundation (I am in the physics department at Hunter College), which had to do with export controls. It asked whether I edited any papers from a short list of countries, one of which was Iran. I am an associate editor of one of the Physical Review journals (published by the American Physical Society), and we do get papers from Iran. So I answered yes. This resulted in a 4-way conference call involving myself, someone from 80th Street, an export control consultant hired by CUNY, and the Editorial Director of the American Physical Society. It was decided that I could continue to handle submissions from Iran.

Finally, I would like to commend a colleague of mine from the University of Calgary, Barry Sanders, for co-organizing a series of conferences on quantum information in Iran, the most recent of which was held in Isfahan last year. The Iranian physics community is quite isolated and has problems with its own government, and these conferences have given students Iran a chance to meet researchers from other countries (mainly Europe). Barry also mentioned to me that initially Canadian universities benefited from the difficulties Iranian students had getting into the US to study, but with the election of a right-wing government in Canada, it is now harder for Iranian students to study there as well.

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UMass Student February 13, 2015 at 10:36 am | #

As someone who goes to UMass, I find this terrible. Wanted to let you know that the link you posted to the UMass justification is no longer active. I think they pulled the PDF.

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Zebra February 13, 2015 at 11:24 am | #

Nor does RPI, even for the art programs. http://admissions.rpi.edu/graduate/admission/index.html

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- Zebra February 13, 2015 at 1:54 pm | #
  
  Just a follow up on my earlier comment:
  
  The link above doesn’t specifically say that RPI won’t grant admissions to the citizens of mentioned countries, but when I contacted them, the response I received was outrageous in the sense that the director made it so clear that it is their own interpretation of law and they rather play it safe. It is disappointing since this is happening in an academic level. The academic institutions shouldn’t be so vulnerable to foreign policies.
  
  I was born in Iran and have been a US resident for over two years. I normally stay quiet since there are always risk factors for us getting involved in matters like this, but I am very disturbed to see this issue keeps coming up. This is part of my email correspondence with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute over my application for their Master of Fine Arts program last year. I was encouraged not to apply over the phone, but the director was willing to discus my case with their lawyers anyway. I understand RPI is a research university, but what I don’t understand is what harm there could be for an artist to pursue art in any institution. I do not do politics and there is no trace of politics in my artistic practice. It is true, everybody knows there are discriminatory decisions like this happening all the time, but I simply can not believe this is becoming a trend in academia so publicly.
  
  (Please note that I have taken the names and phone numbers out)
  
  From: ——–
  Sent: Monday, January 06, 2014 11:30 AM
  To: ——–
  Subject: RE: MFA Application to Rensselaer
  
  Dear ——–,
  
  I regret to let you know that your status as a U.S. permanent resident does not increase your likelihood of admission at Rensselaer for fall 2014. While most of the rules and regulations that we must follow as an institution are guided by citizenship status, a limited number relate to country of birth, which is where we run into difficulty in your particular situation. Each institution of higher education must read and interpret the government regulations as they pertain to their individual institution, and so, it’s possible that another institution will have a different outlook on your likelihood of admission.
  
  I wish I had better news for you and I sincerely wish you the best in finding the right graduate program.
  
  As regulations do change, you may wish to check back with me in the summer and I can give you an update on the likelihood of matriculation then.
  
  Best,
  
  ——–
  
  ——– | Director of Graduate Admissions
  
  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  
  110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180
  
  voice: ——– | fax: ——– | ——–
  
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Doug Tarnopol February 13, 2015 at 12:58 pm | #

Nice digging, Corey; well done.

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- Doug Tarnopol February 13, 2015 at 12:59 pm | #
  
  And I’ll happily admit that the site does indeed look much better. 🙂
  
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cameron February 13, 2015 at 1:24 pm | #

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3AT3yns0o6D9EJ%3Awww.umass.edu%2Fgradschool%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Firanian_student_admissions_2_2015.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Fortunately everything posted on the internet is there forever even if it’s been deleted. Link to the original post on the UMass graduate school page before it was removed.

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UMass Student February 13, 2015 at 1:50 pm | #

A cached version of the statement is available here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:T3yns0o6D9EJ:www.umass.edu/gradschool/sites/default/files/iranian_student_admissions_2_2015.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

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UMass Student February 13, 2015 at 2:08 pm | #

Well, I just checked, and it looks like the link is live again.

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M Araghchini February 13, 2015 at 4:32 pm | #

the links are again up on their website 🙁

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BillR February 13, 2015 at 8:26 pm | #

Someone at Stanford is probably happy:

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/world-renowned-computer-scientist-suffers-harrowing-mid-air-iq-drop

Imagine if an accalimed professor were to write:

I will not help Jewish students until Israel recognizes and respects the sovereignty of Iran and the Iranian people; the rights of Palestinians to reclaim property stolen from them over the past 60 years, and makes reparations to Palestinians for their losses and suffering, and to Iranians for the losses their economy has suffered as a result of US and Israeli-sponsored sanctions, assassinations, and acts of subversion.” The professor went on to write, “If Jews want the benefits of Stanford and other institutions in the US, they have to respect the values we hold in the US…

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Steve White February 13, 2015 at 10:49 pm | #

Figures that your position would be Hate Israel, but love the cuddly Iranians?

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- Andrew February 16, 2015 at 5:30 pm | #
  
  lol
  
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hypocracy February 14, 2015 at 12:27 pm | #

“The University of Massachusetts Amherst prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, *national origin*, mental or physical disability, political belief or affiliation, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law in any aspect of the access to, *admission*, or treatment of students in its programs and activities, or in employment and application for employment.”
http://www.umass.edu/eod/aapolicy.html

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sinobserver February 15, 2015 at 8:11 am | #

My experience with UMass’s speech policy hasn’t been great. Granted it was only relegated to the student paper’s online comment section but if that was any indication of their attitude they do not deserve any respect. I once got into a debate with someone about one of paper’s articles. I showed that all of this guy’s claims were false with solid, verifiable evidence. He then falsely accused me of defaming him and threatened to sue me and the university if they don’t take down the comments. They cowardly relented.

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Mariam February 15, 2015 at 3:45 pm | #

I was born in 1987. I grew up and went to college in Iran. It is not easy to live in Iran. When I started elementary school I was warned by my parents not to speak of the books we read, the music we listened to, the movies we watched, or the political opinions we had. In school, there wasn’t really any discussions going on. You either had the same opinion as the teacher or you were wrong. I was taught that the Darwin’s theory of evolution is wrong. I wasn’t taught any modern molecular biology.

As a teenager I really liked soccer but as a woman I am not allowed by the government to watch a soccer game in a stadium. We played cards in secret, listened to smuggled music in secret, played backgammon in secret, and we could only be truly ourselves in secret.

As I grew up, I wanted to be politically active but I didn’t really want to cause my parents any troubles and end up in prison so I kept my opinions to myself. I shut up and was only myself in secret.

I was accepted to one of the top universities and started my undergraduate degree in chemical engineering. I was smart and hardworking and was always top of my class. I am interested in research so I approached Professor A and expressed my interest in working for him. Professor A tells me, he doesn’t work with women.

At this point my brother who is three years older than me and has a master’s degree gets admitted to Stanford. I follow, totally blindly just as an escape, just to be able to breathe under a different sky, hoping to live in a more liberal country.

I contacted many schools and was advised by most of them not to apply because I was Iranian. I didn’t give up. I tried other universities. I got accepted to a PhD program in a very prestigious US university.

The next challenge was the visa. For an Iranian to apply for a visa, they need to travel to a third country that has a US consulate. You need an appointment. I went to Nicosia, Cypress. Only once a week, there were appointments available to Iranian citizens. I got my appointment, went to Nicosia, had an interview, presented my documents and went home to wait for a clearance process. Waited about 40 days, saw my case number as cleared on the website, went back to Cypress and got the visa in my passport. I had an easy time. Some students miss a semester or two before their visas are ready. Set all the inconvenience aside and think about the cost of airfare, logging, consulate fees, etc that I had to pay just to obtain a visa. Not every Iranian family can afford that.

I got my single entry visa, packed my two 50 lb bags and came to the US. All felt like paradise at first. Letting the breeze go through my hair and wearing what I wanted when I wanted were the craziest things I did. I tried alcohol, going to a bar and a night club but decided I don’t really enjoy them.

It got harder. I always felt bad about the awkward pause after I tell people I am from Iran. I still hate it. I have experienced people just walking away after they hear where I am from. It seems being Iranian is worse than having the plague. A lot of Iranians, when asked where they are from, respond with “I’m persian”. I don’t. I don’t see why I should be ashamed of where I was born. I say I am Iranian. And to that people have many different reactions. My favorite one is “I knew an Iraqi (not Iranian) guy, he was a nice guy”.

I never felt welcome or accepted. It got even harder. I fell in love with an American classmate. We met over coursework, went out, moved in together and finally got married. I had no wedding. I wanted one but how can I get my family to the US. I would be crazy to even think his family would even consider going to Iran. They repeatedly warn my husband about traveling to Iran.

I ended up losing a lot of my Iranian friends and connections and never felt welcome in his circle of friends. I feel I am looked at as maybe half a person among his friends and family. My name is Mariam. It is a very simple and common name and had the same root as Miriam, Maria or Mary. It doesn’t have any weird sounds. In a family gathering, my husband’s aunt complained about my name being too hard for her to learn and suggested that they should “just call me Mary”. Having had my name pronounced a million different ways and having had never complained about it I don’t know how some people think it is ok to make someone uncomfortable for their given name.

This unwelcomeness was less severe in academia but it was still there. I had far less opportunities than many students who might not have been as qualified as I was. I knew I wouldn’t be working in the oil and gas industry or any other high-tech area or sanction attracting field so I chose wisely. I didn’t do what I wanted to, I did what sounded least threatening.

I got married in 2011 applied for my green card in Aug. 2012. In January 2013 I was told I will receive my card “in a couple of weeks”. I got my card in July 2013. It doesn’t really help though. It still has my criminal record on it. It says “country of birth: Iran”.

I recently defended my PhD and will graduate in May. Right now I am looking for Postdoc positions. It is not easy. When people hear where I am from they have to get advice from administrators. They have to go through more trouble to hire an Iranian. Why should they? I am not that special.

I recently moved to Colorado from Texas and when I was asked where I was from I said Texas. Well, Texas is where I became a free person, where I rented my own place, paid my own bills, bought a car, fell in love, had sex, planted a tree and where I was myself without having to hide behind a mask. I was lectured that the place you are from is where you grew up.

I am homeless. Most Iranians are. I am Iranian but can’t live the way I want in Iran. I traveled back after I got my green card. It is nice to visit the family but at the end it wasn’t MY home. Having been a green card holder for some time, I’m often asked when I will become a US citizen. Well, I am not sure if I will ever become one. This is not my country either. I can’t feel at home somewhere, where I am constantly being seen as a threat. I can’t feel at home somewhere, where I am corrected when I tell people I am from Texas. I can’t feel at home if people are not willing to learn my name. I will be punished for the rest of my life for the crime of being born in the “wrong” place.

I am Iranian, I am an atheist, I support gay-marriage, I’m a scientist but I like baking and cooking for hours in the kitchen. This combination just doesn’t fit anywhere. I feel isolated. Nowhere I feel hundred percent welcome.

Policies are not just written statements. Policies are inside people and in how they treat people. If UMass no longer wants to deal with Iranian students, let them be. I’m starting to think it is better than having them there and treating them like half students. UMass doesn’t want Iranian students, their loss. Stanford still wants them. All universities have a no discrimination policy but discrimination happens every day.

If I could go back in time though I would probably do the same. There is nothing in the world more precious to me than my husband and I wouldn’t have met him if I had never come here. So I will keep paying the price for being Iranian, probably for the rest of my life. I don’t like it and I’m tired of it and for once want to know what exactly my crime is and why the world is so reluctant to give me the chance of having a happy life.

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BillR February 16, 2015 at 10:43 am | #

It’s a shame how much pain and suffering the actions of politicians bring to people who just want to lead normal lives. After almost a lifetime, US has started normalizing relations with Cuba but it’s often a sad situation when one comes across a Cuban person in this country. I recently met an older woman who was still full of bitterness toward Castro and spoke of her departure in March, 1961 as if it happened a couple of years ago. She doesn’t want to put a step in Cuba and spend a “single dollar” (her words) until the current regime is replaced. This despite the fact that she’s quite well-off and lives in one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the country but still she’s full of scorn at the infrastrcuture in Cuba and from what I could tell had an unhealthy obsession with events in her country of birth. One hopes that the situation will improve with Iran in a similar manner, although unlike the wingnuts from Miami who can’t get over Castro, in the case of Iran there’s a large contingent of “merchants of hate” who operate in the mainstream and apparently have wet-dreams of nuking that far-off country.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/mccain-sings-bomb-iran/

Speaking of CBS, here’s another person from the Bomb Iran Party who’s crowing at Bob Simon’s death:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/02/12/1364149/-Debbie-Schlussel-trashes-Bob-Simon-on-Twitter

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emeryberger February 16, 2015 at 2:43 pm | #

UMass Computer Science will admit and welcomes Iranian applicants to our program. Signed, Graduate Admissions Chair (me).

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