Their demonstrations against Shah draw angry reactions in college communities Washington In response to the international crisis created by the seizure of the American embassy in Teheran, the Justice Department last week ordered Iranian students in the United States to register with immigration officials by December 14 or face deportation. Attorney General Benjamin R. Civiletti issued the order after Iranian students in this country demonstrated in support of the embassy takeover. Angry Americans have staged increasingly violent counter-protests. Iranian students were physically attacked during several demonstrations, and scattered instances of harassment -- in some cases provoked by off-campus groups -- were reported at a number of colleges. Despite the tensions, foreign-student advisers reported last week that Iranian students had generally expressed willingness to comply with the Justice Department regulations and were “lying low” rather than holding further demonstrations. New questions about the status of Iranian students were raised last week following President Carter’s order to freeze $5-billion in Iranian assets in U.S. banks. Some American educators were concerned that the move would halt future transfers of funds from Iran to the U.S., thus cutting off scholarship payments to the students. The order requiring Iranians to report to the immigration service was issued in compliance with President Carter’s directive to deport Iranian students found violating the terms of their student visas. The order, published in the November 14 Federal Register, requires students to report to district officers of the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- or to I.N.S. officers who will visit a number of campuses -- with their passports, copies of arrival and departure records, evidence from their school that they are enrolled as full-time students, and evidence of their current addresses. “Failure to report as required or provision of false information to the I.N.S. will subject a student to deportation proceedings for failure to comply with the conditions of nonimmigrant status,” the order says. It adds that students convicted of a crime carrying a jail sentence of one year or more also will be subject to deportation. The immigration officers will take pictures of the students and check their names against a list of 50,000 Iranians in this country. The list, according to acting I.N.S. Commissioner David Crosland, was compiled last spring. The Justice Department will “follow leads as to the whereabouts” of Iranians who do not report and attempt to arrest them, Mr. Crosland said. Spokesmen for educational associations in Washington said that they were satisfied with the I.N.S. procedures, but they expressed doubt that many full-time students would be deported. Hugh M. Jenkins, executive vice-president of the National Association for Foreign Student Affairs, said more than 46,000 Iranians were thought to be enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities. “My guess is that practically all of them will be found to be in good standing,” Mr. Jenkins said. Jack W. Peltason, president of the American Council on Education, said the regulations were “sensitive to the concerns of [educational] institutions,” and were designed to “safeguard the rights of those [students] who are properly engaged in the pursuit of their studies.” ‘Lengthy and Burdensome’ The foreign-student-affairs association, the A.C.E., and the Institute of International Education issued a statement last week warning against reprisals against students simply because they are Iranians. “It is urgent that these [I.N.S.] procedures do not require a lengthy and burdensome involvement by the colleges and universities where the students are enrolled,” the statement said. “This will only prolong the period in which all Iranian students, by definition, will be looked upon as potential violators of the I.N.S. regulations and thus be considered as illegal aliens, possible candidates for deportation.” The association also expressed concern that the American “indignation and frustration” over the seizing of the embassy in Teheran could “make every Iranian student the target for some violent reaction on campus or in the community.” Justice Department sources said the department had resumed deportation proceedings against some 4,400 Iranians who earlier had been found in violation of their student visas. Began in January The initial proceedings had been part of a crackdown that began last January in the wake of violent protests by Iranians against U.S. support of the now deposed Shah, Mohammed Riza Pahlevi. Those efforts were suspended after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took control of the government and State Department officials became concerned for the safety of returning students in the “unsettled conditions in Iran.” The policy not to require Iranians to return home was to have lasted until June 1, 1980, but has been suspended under the new order. Mr. Crosland told reporters that Iranians found to be in violation of their visa terms could be deported “voluntarily” within 10 days, but he conceded that those who chose to fight through the courts could delay their deportation indefinitely. Foreign-student advisers on campuses around the country reported last week that most of their Iranian students were concerned about the deportation order and willing to cooperate with immigration officials. Dixon Johnson, director of international programs at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, said a number of Iranians “have come in and asked what they are supposed to do to comply with the I.N.S. order.” “We tell them that the most important thing is to remain in good academic standing,” he said. “If they don’t, there will be no mercy shown.” Most of the demonstrations staged by Iranians came during the first week of the takeover. Some 140 Iranians were arrested in Beverly Hills, Cal., during a pro-Khomeini protest march that had been banned by police. They subsequently were released on bail. In Denver, an Iranian student at Arapahoe Community College was held by police for questioning after a 16-year-old boy was shot to death and two of his companions were wounded. The shots were fired while the teenagers allegedly were harassing the Iranian, police said. Four Iranian students and a Sudanese were arrested in St. Paul in an alleged plot to kidnap Minnesota Gov. Albert H. Quie during a reception for international students at the governor’s mansion. The students, all from Mankato State University, were later released, and the charges against them were dropped. Some Iranians students not involved in pro-Khomeini demonstrations have reported being assaulted or verbally harassed by Americans. Others have complained that they have been refused service in restaurants and other public facilities. ‘Sidewalk Confrontations’ In Tennessee, Iranian students on two campuses reported they had received threats from a group that identified itself as SNAKE -- Students Now Aware of Khomeini’s Evils -- but spokesmen at the institutions said they had no evidence that such a group existed. Following several “sidewalk confrontations” at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Iranians and Americans participated in a two-hour symposium, attended by more than 500 students. A university spokesman said the discussions were lively, sometimes heated, but non-violent. The only incident, he added, occurred near the end of the discussion, when an American student in the audience tore an Iranian flag in half and threw it to the floor. Several university spokesmen reported receiving anonymous calls threatening their Iranian students. Said one, “The callers are saying, in effect, ‘If you can’t handle those students and keep them quiet, people from the community will have to come in and do it for you.’” As a result of the angry American reaction, several student groups had halted their pro-Khomeini demonstrations by last week. ‘A Very Low Profile’ Billie G. Gore, foreign-student adviser at South Oklahoma City Junior College, commented: “The Iranians here are keeping a very low profile. They are aware of how the people around here feel, and they are afraid. A lot of them are staying away from public places, and they are trying not to be belligerent.” Many college officials said they were encouraging Iranians to avoid trouble. Iranian students at Indiana University have been advised to “refrain from any public demonstrations,” said Kenneth A. Rogers, associate dean and director of international services. “It would not take much to spark a very strong, possibly violent, reaction,” he added. Khomeini supporters in this country reportedly have been startled by such reaction. “This has gone beyond the Shah. It has become a conflict between American nationalism and Iranian nationalism,” said Younes Benab, an Iranian-American in Washington who acts as adviser to a number of pro-Khomeini student organizations. He said the student groups were planning a series of teach-in’s on campuses, “to explain the Iranians’ side of the story.” Many Iranian students do not believe that the Shah is in America to recover from cancer, he explained. Rather, he said, they are afraid the deposed leader, with the support of high U.S. business and political powers, is using his hospital room in New York to carry out a plot to undermine the position of the ayatollah and to promote his own return to power. “Iranian students believe that this spontaneous upsurge of hostility is very, very temporary and within a matter of time will be washed away by further explanations by students,” Mr. Benab said. |