http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/umass-bans-iranian-nationals-science-classes-stirs-backlash-n307806 So, are they being discriminatory or just being more open in their willingness to follow the law?
I’m really conflicted on this. I mean it is technically discriminatory, and one could even say draconian, but I can totally see why they did it.
This is the regulation the school is following: http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/Documents/hr_1905_pl_112_158.pdf. The relevant excerpt:
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.
The school is just being upfront about the fact that they follow regulations, as required.
There are probably even more nationalities that should be banned from access to US training & technology.
Re: #2
The law refers to the denial of visas by the US government for Iranian citizens seeking education to prepare for a career in energy or nuclear science or engineering; it does not impose any requirements on the schools.
Of course, if an Iranian citizen believed the government’s viewpoint about how the US is the Great Satan and all that, would s/he want to go to the US to begin with?
Of course they would. Just because someone doesn’t like us, doesn’t mean that they aren’t willing to use us. You know, for the greater good and all?
Looking at the regulation, it says denial of VISA to any Iranian national who wishes to study nuclear related fields in the US. Is UMass’s ban really necessary considering that the Iranian nationals wouldn’t have the visa to study here in the first place? I understand why they did it, but it is discrimination. The problem with this type of thing is where is the line drawn? Not all “suspects” would be nationals; some are American citizens with just really radical beliefs.
It seems to me a sensible rule–what if a student got a visa to come and study biology, and then wants to change majors into one of the proscribed ones? I think if the federal rule is justifiable, the university’s is as well.
Here is another document from the feds related to this subject:
Updates from the Department of Homeland Security / Department of State
Date of Announcement: July 29, 2013
The “Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act” was enacted August 10, 2012. According to Section 501, Iranian citizens are ineligible for U.S. visas if they are seeking to enter the U.S. to participate in coursework at an institution of higher education for a career in Iran’s:
Petroleum sector;
Natural gas sector;
Nuclear energy sector; or,
Nuclear science field; or,
Nuclear engineering field.
Examples of fields of study that render a visa applicant ineligible include:
Petroleum engineering;
Petroleum management;
Nuclear science;
Nuclear engineering; or,
A related field.
Hunt’s point about the student getting a visa for one subject and then changing majors is valid.
The recent tone of communications from the feds regarding strict adherence to student visa regulations has been very strong. Schools are being expected to have much greater oversight of what is going on with visa students at their schools than they have been in the past. Field agents are being deployed to “assist” schools in this area, as well.
So would an Iranian citizen who comes to the US for general geology and wants to take a class in petroleum geology be barred from doing so? Like most of the posters on this thread I don’t see the issue with preventing an Iranian citizen from studying most of the black listed fields.
Well this didn’t take long.
Don’t we discriminate against non-citizens for all sorts of things? If you’re not a citizen/resident, you can’t get food stamps, fill out FAFSA for fed aid, can’t get a lot of jobs, etc.
The 9/11 Hijackers took flight training in the US. Must we teach every lunatic in the world who shows up?
Seriously. We’ve got enough lunatics of our own to educate in this country.
What next? UMass Amherst going to admit nuclear & petroleum engineering majors from ISIS?
The realities are our Graduate Engineering Programs are overrun with Internationals Students from rogue nations. Many of these students hate the United States, even when they seek to live permanently in the USA. I do not know what the situation is now, but 20 - 30 years ago, pretty much 90% of the PhD Engineering candidates at our top Engineering Schools were from outside the USA. I suspect this was through for other Science disciplines even today.
I remember one of first Graduate Class at the Graduate School of Engineering at the University of Michigan and the Professor remaking that it was like stepping into the United Nations when he first entered the room the first day of class. There was probably one US born Student in the Class of 30 - 40 Graduate Students. One of my classmate was a Student from Iran, who was very Anti-American and when asked where he was from, would tell others he was from “Persian” (would not admit explicitly he was Iranian). This was during the time when the Shah of Iran was overthrown by radicals. There were many demonstration on US Campuses across the country by Iranian Students.
Well, if you read the details of the college’s reversal, it isn’t really a reversal at all. They’re just going to coordinate with the State Department.