The Trump administration on Thursday revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, delivering a sharp punishment to the elite institution for refusing to bow to the administration’s policy demands.
“Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status,” the US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
The bombshell move comes as students from around the world were preparing to attend Harvard, the oldest university in the US and one of the nation’s most prestigious. One would-be incoming freshman from New Zealand described hearing the news as a “heart drop” moment.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said she ordered her department to terminate Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, citing the university’s refusal to turn over the conduct records of foreign students requested by the DHS last month.
The decision could impact more than a quarter of Harvard’s heavily international student body, who have been flung into anxiety and confusion by the announcement. Professors warn a mass exodus of foreign students threatens to stifle the academic prowess of the institution even as it battles against the administration for its ideological autonomy.
The White House said Thursday that “enrolling foreign students is a privilege, not a right” and accused Harvard leadership of turning “their once-great institution into a hot-bed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators.”
“They have repeatedly failed to take action to address the widespread problems negatively impacting American students and now they must face the consequences of their actions,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement to CNN.
Harvard and Trump officials have been locked in conflict for months as the administration demands the university make changes to campus programming, policies, hiring and admissions to root out on-campus antisemitism and eliminate what it calls “racist ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ practices.” The administration has homed in on foreign students and staff it believes participated in contentious campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
But the university’s leadership argues many of the requests, including an “audit” of the “viewpoint” of its students and staff, go far beyond the role of the federal government and may violate Harvard’s constitutional rights.
Harvard is among dozens of US universities facing harsh demands from the Trump administration, but it has emerged as the fiercest defender of its academic independence.
