After consulting with the State Department, UMass Amherst announced on Wednesday it is reversing a decision to bar Iranian students from entering some engineering and science programs.

The ban on Iranian applicants to these programs is gone, but there are still restrictions. UMass says they’re necessary to comply with U.S. sanctions. The university will develop individual courses of study for Iranians.

“They have moved firmly in the right direction by reversing this outright ban,” says Jamal Abdi with the National Iranian American Council. “We’re going to be talking to students and reviewing the new policy closely to learn exactly how it ensures that there’s no discrimination taking place.”

Abdi credits widespread public backlash for the reversal in university policy.

Despite the change, a pair of UMass student organizations are going ahead with a public forum scheduled for Wednesday night to keep discussing the issue.