A new UMass Amherst policy that denies college admission to many Iranian students has sparked anger.

The policy says Iranians will no longer be admitted to certain engineering, natural science, and other programs because of a federal law designed to discourage nuclear and energy research by Iranians.

Jamal Abdi with the National Iranian American Council says UMass overstepped its bounds:

“I think that there’s a possibility that the university read the law, saw the regulations, and believed that it was supposed to be the one policing the sanctions instead of the U.S. government.”

UMass-Amherst spokesperson Ed Blaguszewski says the university is just trying to clarify its admissions policy so Iranian students are not misled. The university posted the new rules online on February 6th, took them down today after getting many calls, and then put them back up again.