US govt revokes Harvard's right to enrol foreign students
NEW YORK: Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday revoked Harvard’s right to enrol foreign nationals — more than a quarter of the student body — in an escalation of the president’s fight against the prestigious university.
The university in Cambridge, Massachusetts quickly slammed the move as “unlawful” and said it would cause “serious harm” to both the campus and the country as a whole.
Trump is furious at Harvard — which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners — for rejecting his demand that it submit to oversight on admissions and hiring over his claims that it is a hotbed of anti‑Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, referring to the main system by which foreign students are permitted to study in the United States, wrote in a letter to the Ivy League institution: “Effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor (SEVIS) Program certification is revoked.”
Harvard, which has sued the government over the raft of other punitive measures directed at it, quickly fired back, calling the move “unlawful.”
In a statement, the university said, “We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars. 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.”
Everyone's panicking
Last month, Trump threatened to stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students if it did not agree to government demands that would place the private institution under outside political supervision. “As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enrol foreign students,” Noem wrote.
She added, “All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program regulations, to maintain this privilege. As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro‑Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege.”
According to university data, more than 27% of Harvard’s enrolment was made up of foreign students in the 2024‑25 academic year. Fourth‑year US student Alice Goyer told AFP “no one knows” what the development would mean for international students already enrolled. “We just got the news, so I’ve been getting texts from a lot of international friends, and I think everyone’s just — no one knows,” she said. “Everyone’s panicking a bit.”
On whether students would willingly transfer to other institutions, as suggested by Noem in the letter, Goyer said, “I doubt people would do that. I would hope maybe there’s going to be a legal battle that’ll take place.”
By RSS/AFP
