The Trump administration has rescinded Harvard University’s authority to enroll worldwide college students, escalating tensions with the Ivy League establishment. The Department of Homeland Security claimed, with out offering proof, that the college enabled “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to focus on Jewish college students on campus and accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.
“This means Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status,” the division mentioned in a press release.
Harvard enrolls nearly 6,800 overseas college students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, accounting for greater than 1 / 4 of its scholar physique. Most are graduate college students, coming from greater than 100 international locations.
Harvard referred to as the motion illegal and mentioned it is working to offer steering to college students.
“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” the college mentioned in a press release.
The dispute stems from an April 16 request from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The letter demanded that Harvard flip over details about overseas college students which may implicate them in violence or protests that would in any other case result in their deportation.
In a letter to Harvard on Thursday, Noem mentioned the college’s sanction is “the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.” It bars Harvard from internet hosting worldwide college students for the upcoming 2025-26 college yr.
Noem mentioned Harvard can regain its capacity to host overseas college students if it produces a trove of information on overseas college students inside 72 hours. Her up to date request calls for all information, together with audio or video footage, of overseas college students taking part in protests or harmful exercise on campus.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Noem mentioned in a press release.
The administration revoked Harvard’s certification within the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which supplies the college the power to sponsor worldwide college students to get their visas and attend college within the United States.
Noem’s sanction opens a brand new entrance within the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard. The nation’s oldest and wealthiest college, Harvard was the primary to overtly defy White House calls for to restrict pro-Palestinian protests and get rid of range, fairness and inclusion insurance policies.
The federal authorities has responded by chopping $2.6 billion in federal grants to Harvard, forcing it to self-fund a lot of its sprawling analysis operation. President Donald Trump has mentioned he needs to strip the college of its tax-exempt standing.
It additionally tapped into issues that congressional Republicans have raised about ties between U.S. universities and China. Homeland Security officers mentioned Harvard supplied coaching to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps as not too long ago as 2024. As proof, it supplied a hyperlink to a Fox News article, which in flip cited a letter from House Republicans.
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, referred to as the most recent motion an “illegal, small-minded” overreach.
“I worry that this is sending a very chilling effect to international students looking to come to America for education,” he mentioned.
The Trump administration has leveraged the system for monitoring worldwide college students’ authorized standing as a part of its broader makes an attempt to crack down on increased training. What was as soon as a largely administrative database has change into a instrument of enforcement, as immigration officers revoked college students’ authorized standing immediately within the system.
Those efforts have been challenged in courtroom, resulting in restorations of standing and a nationwide injunction blocking the administration from pursuing additional terminations.
Source: www.dailysabah.com