Trump administration blocks Harvard University from enrolling foreign students
The Trump administration will block Harvard University from enrolling international students in retaliation for the Ivy League school's failure to capitulate to its demands.
The administration notified Harvard by letter that the university’s student and exchange visitor programme certification was "revoked" after a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) investigation, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
The revocation means that the prestigious university can no longer enrol international students, and existing foreign students must transfer to another college or lose their legal status, the DHS said.
In April, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asked the institution for the records of foreign student visa holders' "illegal and violent" activities.
Noem accused Harvard of fostering antisemitism and liaising with the Communist Party of China.
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"This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.
"It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enrol foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.”
Harvard says the administration's move threatened both the institution and the country.
"We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably,” a Harvard spokesperson said in a statement.
“We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission."
Harvard also said that the move from DHS was "unlawful".
Escalating punishment
The Trump administration's decision follows a series of measures to restrict the university’s academic freedom.
At the end of March, the Trump administration announced it was reviewing $9bn in federal funds and grants to Harvard. It said it would review more than $255.6m in current contracts and $8.7bn in grants spread over multiple years.
The administration accused the university of failing to adequately protect Jewish students on campus from antisemitic discrimination and harassment, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
On 3 April, the Trump administration sent an initial list of demands to “right these wrongs”, as part of its crackdown on what it calls antisemitism on campuses across the US, referring to the widespread campus protests against Israel's war on Gaza.
Then, on 11 April, the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism sent Harvard an expanded list of demands.
In response to the expanded list of demands, the institution took a stand against the Trump administration, saying in a letter, issued by Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and King & Spalding LLP, that “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights”.
Harvard rejected the government’s demands, including reporting foreign students for code violations, reforming its governance and leadership, discontinuing its diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes, and changing its hiring and admission policies, especially for international students.
In response, the Trump administration hit Harvard with a $2.3bn federal funding freeze, which represents 35.9 percent of Harvard's $6.4bn operating expenses.
Then, the US Department of Health and Human Services said that it was terminating $60m in federal grants to the university, saying it failed to address antisemitic harassment and ethnic discrimination on campus.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institution has said it “cannot absorb the entire cost” of the frozen grants, and that it was working with researchers to help them find alternative funding. It is also suing the Trump administration over its decision to cut grants.
The Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism is made up of four government agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, and the US General Services Administration.
The task force was set up in February following Trump’s executive order, Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism, signed at the end of January.
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