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The Trump administration has moved to end Harvard’s ability to enrol international students, escalating a standoff with America’s oldest university.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on X that the administration had 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 on Thursday.
Harvard called the move “unlawful” in a statement.
“We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably,” the university responded.
“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.”
The Trump administration’s decisions could affect thousands of international students who study at the university. Over 6,700 international students were enrolled at the institution last academic year, university data shows, making up 27% of its student body.
“We’re seeing a lot of confusion on this,” Sarah Davis, an Australian student receiving a graduate degree, told BBC Newshour.
“The news has come only five days before a lot of us are due to graduate the university, and this obviously is going to have a lot of very uncertain implications for whether we’re able to stay on in the United States afterwards and keep working here,” she said.
“We’re all just sitting back and waiting to see whether or not we get communications about what the next steps are from the university.”
The White House has demanded Harvard make changes to hiring, admissions and teaching practices to help fight antisemitism on campus. It has threatened to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status and freeze billions of dollars in government grants.
Harvard earlier this year said it had taken many steps to address antisemitism, and that the government’s demands were an effort to regulate the university’s “intellectual conditions”. In April, Noem threatened to revoke the university’s access to student visa programmes if it did not comply with a sweeping records request from the administration, pertaining to international students.
In Thursday’s letter, Noem said Harvard must comply with a list of demands to have an “opportunity” to regain its ability to enrol international students.
That included all disciplinary records for non-immigrant students enrolled at Harvard over the past five years. Noem also demanded Harvard turn over electronic records, videos, or audio of “illegal” and “dangerous or violent” activity by non-immigrant students on campus.
The notice gave Harvard 72 hours to comply.
The Trump administration has attempted to curtail visas for international students, causing confusion on university campuses across the US and leading to a wave of lawsuits.
In some cases, those revocations appeared to affect foreign students who participated in political protests or have had previous criminal charges, such as driving infractions.
In a separate court case on Thursday, a federal judge in California blocked the Trump administration from cancelling the legal status of international students across the US while challenges to the policy play out in court.
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