The University of Massachusetts-Amherst deleted a policy statement Friday that warned students from Iran not to apply if they plan to major in certain fields, citing U.S. sanctions against their home country.
UMass-Amherst said in a Feb. 6 policy statement sent to faculty this week that Iranian national students will not be admitted to several programs in the university’s College of Engineering and the College of Natural Sciences. After the policy received criticism and circulated on Twitter Thursday evening and Friday morning, UMass removed all references to it from its website.
“We recognize that our adherence to federal law may create difficulties for our students from Iran and regard this as unfortunate,” the university said in a statement to The Huffington Post. “Furthermore, the exclusion of a class of students from admission directly conflicts with our institutional values and principles. However, as with any college or university, we have no choice but to institute policies and procedure to ensure that we are in full compliance with all applicable laws.”
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Umass Amherst no longer admits Iran students in Engineering & Natural Sciences due to sanctions. Thanks @USTreasury! pic.twitter.com/H1uQtqC1Qu
— Negar نگار (@NegarMortazavi) February 13, 2015
