UMass Amherst bans Iranian nationals from taking certain science subjects

[DemPGH]

Depends upon whether or not they have to go back to Iran.

In grad school I knew several students from the region who were from countries, er, friendlier than Iran. They were on dual stipend - their countries were paying them to come here plus they were on stipend here as grad assistants as well. The catch was that they had to go back when their education was complete. Can't imagine that Iran of all places would be any different. So in this case we're going to train them so they can go back to a hostile country with state-of-the-art knowledge? Unwise. Assuming they have to go back, saying "we're not accepting Iranian nationals to these programs" is a sensible precaution.