page 6
daily nebraskan
friday, december 12, 1980
Concerned with war
Tension eased, but Iranian students still uneasy
By Mary Louise Knapp
Tension beteween American and Iranian students at
UNL has decreased considerably since last year, but some
students and faculty advisers say many Iranian students
do not feel entirely comfortable here.
"Last year was terrible," said an Iranian graduate stu
dent who asked not to be identified.
"I think most of the tension has decreased since then,
and that both sides have realized that we (Iranian stu
dents) can do nothing about it (the hostage situation). I
used to go out a lot, but I don't now. I feel that people
are watching me."
The student, who will graduate this year, said, "I don't
know what to do now whether to go back to school or
try to get a job. I'll just have to see what happens."
The students said that many arguments have taken
place between American and Iranian students, but that
these have been "mostly discussions-not fist fights."
Annoying phone calls
Mahdi Ayapollahi, an Iranian graduate student who is
working on a degree in industrial engineering, said that he
has received two annoying phone calls, but he is not sure
if they were, from American students.
'I don't know what to do now -whether
to go back to school or to
try to get a job. Ill just have to see
what happens.'
"Other students have received telephone calls too,"
he said. "Maybe they're not from students. They might
be from other people."
Ayapollahi said that although harassment of Iranian
students has decreased in the past year, he and other Iran
ians prefer "to keep a low profile."
Moira Ferguson, faculty adviser for the Iranian
Student Association, said that American attitudes toward
Iranians have mellowed.
"The American public is slowly coming to realize that
the shah was a vicious dictator supported by the United
States," she said, "and that the anger of Iranians against
him is understandable."
Ferguson said that the 13-month-old hostage situation
is "a shame, but the United States could have solved it
long ago by agreeing to Iran's reasonable demands (that
the United States return the Shah to Iran). After that, the
United States should have kept out of it."
War main concern
The war between Iraq and Iran is now the main con
cern of Iranian students, said Peter Levitov, director of
International Educational Services at UNL.
"Iranian students are out of touch with their country
they are getting only incomplete reports of what is
happening and the anxiety and paranoia is overwhelming
students," he said.
The hostage crisis has gone on so long, he said, that
people are no longer as concerned about it as they were a
year ago.
Levitov said that one or two incidents involving harass
ment of Iranian students have been reported in the last six
months, but there has not been a flare-up of last year's
large-scale harassment and abuse of Iranian students.
Levitov said he is not aware of antagonism between
Iranian and Iraqi students because of the war.
"The students are not at war with each other out of
their own country," he said. "That's why they can't
understand why the American population acts out of an
tagonism on students who have obviously not made any
contribution to the situation."
Restrictions eased
Certain governmental restrictions on Iranian students
have been eased, but several still are in effect, he said.
Ten days after the American hostages were taken, the
federal government required all Iranian students to report
to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for
address, visa and passport checks.
Of the 193 full-time Iranian students at UNL, all were
found to have acceptable documents.
Some students were required to have their passports
renewed, he said.
On April 17, the United States terminated diplomatic
relations with Iran. All Iranian diplomats had to leave the
country.
Iranian students or tourists who were temporarily out
of the United States were not allowed to return, and stu
dents who had been admitted to American schools but
had not yet left Iran could not get visas to the United
States.
i Avitnv sflifl that these restrictions are still in effect.
After the American attempt to rescue the hostages on
April 16, new regulations were put into effect.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service began
admitting Iranians to the United States for limited periods
of time by marking the date on which they would have to
leave on an entry pass.
'The United States could have solved
it long ago by agreeing to Iran's
reasonable demands. After that, the
United States should have kept
out of it.'
"Some students were admitted for only one year, some
were permitted to stay until they finished college," he
said.
Authorization rescinded
Authorization for extensions on these admissions was
rescinded except for students in unusual circumstances.
In early June, a new immigration regulation provided
that students in American schools could finish their edu
cation in the United States if they had been accepted to
their school for the next year by June 9.
Levitov said the transfer of money from Iran to stu
dents in the United States has been extremely difficult
since the breaking of diplomatic relations with Iran.
"The U.S. Treasury Department had put a hold on
Iranian government assets," he said. "Many banks re
fused to honor checks from Iranian students because they
feared they would be uncollectable. After a couple of
months, though, the banks were told that only govern
ment assets (not private monies) were under control."
Levitov said that there have been, no direct flights
from New York to Tehran since April 7.
The transfer of money from all Iranians to the United
States is being handled by a small staff of Algerian diplo
matsan almost impossible task, Levitov said.
Levitov said that because of the Iran-Iraq war, mail
cannot be sent directly to Tehran, but must be sent to
agencies in Turkey. Mail trucks must pass directly through
the war zone into Iran-a "slow and unpredictable" pro
cess. Some federal restrictions on Iranian students may be
removed in the near future, he said.
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