Washington DC [US], May 23: U.S. President Donald Trump's administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students on Thursday, and is forcing existing students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status, while also threatening to expand the crackdown to other schools.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, the department said in a statement.
Noem accused the university of "fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party."
Harvard said the move by the Trump administration, which affects thousands of students, was illegal and amounted to retaliation.
The clampdown on foreign students marks a significant escalation of the Trump administration's campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump's most prominent institutional targets.
The move comes after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university, the department said.
Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in the 2024-2025 school year, amounting to 27% of its total enrollment, according to university statistics.
In 2022, Chinese nationals made up the biggest population of foreign students, with 1,016, according to university figures.
After that were students from Canada, India, South Korea, the UK, Germany, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.
"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," Noem said in a statement.
Harvard rejected the allegations and pledged to support foreign students.
"The government's action is unlawful," the university said in a statement.
"This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission."
The university said it was "fully committed" to educating foreign students and was working on producing guidance for affected students.
In a separate lawsuit related to Trump efforts to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students across the U.S., a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the administration could not end their status without following proper regulatory procedures.
It was not immediately clear how that ruling would affect the action against Harvard.
During an interview with Fox News' "The Story with Martha MacCallum," Noem was asked if she was considering similar moves at other universities, including Columbia University in New York.
"Absolutely, we are," Noem said. "This should be a warning to every other university to get your act together."
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
