during the late 1970s, controversy again erupted on campus surrounding the school's historically large iranian population. as u.s. relations with iran began to deteriorate throughout the decade, iranian students on campus began staging protests against the shah, which protests met with some backlash in the community. following the outbreak of the hostage crisis of 1979, immigration officials arrived on campus to interview each iranian, an event which alienated many international and domestic students. for a time, the population of middle eastern students declined sharply and has only recently begun to rise again.