Follow us on Instagram
Try our daily mini crossword
Play our latest news quiz
Download our new app on iOS/Android!

Immediately extend application deadlines for Iranian students

Morrison Hall 2018.jpg
Marcia Brown / The Daily Princetonian

To the Princeton administration, faculty, and student body:

We are a group of graduate students at Princeton from various departments and members of the Iranian Students Association here. Today we are writing on behalf of our Iranian compatriots.

ADVERTISEMENT

You may know that over the past few days, there have been violent protests in Iran against the Iranian government as a result of the 50-percent gas price hike, and the government has shut down the Internet in the entire country; no one inside the country has access to the Internet, and thus, the country has gone almost completely offline. While some have regained connectivity, many others have not. WhatsApp has been blocked as well, which is a key means of communication from within Iran to beyond. The death toll ranges from 30 to 300, with no means of confirmation, let alone reaching loved ones. There are far-ranging implications for the lack of access to Internet, something we may take for granted in the United States.

On behalf of many current and future applicants and students, we are asking Princeton to please consider extending all submission deadlines for those who are currently inside Iran and do not have access to the Internet. McGill, Stanford, NYU, Boston University, Brown, Harvard, and the University of Arizona, among many others, have already elected to extend their deadlines given the situation.

We would be very grateful if the administration could consider this request, extend the deadlines, and give bright, ambitious, talented Iranian students the opportunity to submit their applications and other required documents later, when they have access to the Internet. And we ask students here to serve as allies and advocates and urge the administration to do the same.

In gratitude,

The Princeton Iranian Students Association

The authors have been granted anonymity given the sensitive nature of the material written and of the situation in Iran.

ADVERTISEMENT