Trump administration ends Harvard’s ability to enrol international students

The Trump administration moved to end Harvard’s ability to enrol international students, escalating a row with America’s oldest university.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that the administration has revoked Harvard’s “Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law.”
“Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country,” she wrote.

Harvard called the move “unlawful” in a statement.

Nearly 7,000 international students were enrolled at the institution last academic year, university data shows, making up 27.2% of its student body.

DHS said that in addition to barring enrollment of future international students, “existing foreign students must transfer to lose their legal status.” The revocation, which DHS said was the result of “pro-terrorist conduct,” was first reported by The New York Times.

As of the fall 2023 semester, International students comprised more than 27% of Harvard’s total enrollment, according to university data.

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Noem said in a statement posted on the social media site X.

“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing,” Noem said.
“It refused.”

Harvard could not immediately be reached for comment

Last month, Harvard announced it would allow foreign students to accept admission to both Harvard and a foreign university as backup amid the Trump administration’s threats to move to block Harvard’s authorization to host them. Typically, students must accept enrollment at Harvard by May 1 and can’t commit to another university.

At least a dozen Harvard students have had their authorization to study in the U.S. revoked over campus protest activity.

Noem in April had threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.

She warned the university at that time that its certification to enroll foreign students was contingent upon complying with federal immigration laws.

The administration in April froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, hours after the university roundly rejected demands that it eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and evaluate international students for ideological concerns.

The Trump administration has already frozen close to $3 billion in federal funding to the university, largely dedicated to research, and launched investigations across the departments of Justice, Education and Health and Human Services. They claim that Harvard has failed to address campus antisemitism and eradicate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in its policies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress this week that the State Department had probably revoked “thousands” of student visas by this point and would “proudly” revoke more.

“We’re going to continue to revoke the visas of people who are here as guests and are disrupting our higher education facilities,” he said Tuesday. “A visa is a privilege, not a right.”

The crackdown on university policies comes after a wave of pro-Gaza student protests and encampments swept schools across the nation since the beginning of Israel’s offensive campaign to eradicate Hamas after the October 7 attacks to pressure university administrations to divest from Israel.

By Agencies