Donald Trump has suspended for an initial six months the admission of international students aiming to study or engage in exchange programs at Harvard University.
Declaring it “detrimental” to US interests to keep letting foreign students attend the university, the US president issued the decree on Wednesday citing “national security” issues.
Harvard answered within hours by submitting court papers requesting a judge to stop the “retaliatory” order from being implemented.
Trump’s declaration marks a further escalation of a protracted legal dispute involving one of the most esteemed US colleges following Harvard’s rejection to comply with a set of White House requests in April.
Wednesday’s directive follows a judge’s last week injunction blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from prohibiting overseas students from Harvard.
Trump’s statement charged Harvard with ongoing “flout of the civil rights of its students and professors” and “substantial entangements” with other nations”.
“Considering these facts, I have decided that it is necessary to restrict the entrance of foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States solely or principally to participate in a course of study at Harvard University,” he remarked.
The directive also orders the secretary of state to take review of existing visas of students presently enrolled in the university and suspends visas for overseas students pursuing exchange programs.
The suspension can last more than six months.
The White House claimed Harvard had provided “deficient data on only three students” and failed to give the DHS enough information regarding “foreign students’ known illegal or dangerous activities”.
Harvard released a statement declaring the order “yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights” to free speech.
Arguing that the current action by Trump is “part of a concerted and escalating campaign of retaliation by the government in clear retribution for Harvard’s exercising of its First Amendment rights,” the institution changed its existing complaint against the government on Thursday.
The lawsuit accused Trump of “a government vendetta against Harvard” rather than supporting assertions he is trying to “safeguard national security”.
In a statement, University President Alan Garber also said Harvard was creating backup plans for overseas students, who account for around 25% of the student body.
After the Trump government blocked billions of federal funds and charged the university of failing to eradicate antisemitism on campus, the richest university in the world has been entangled in a legal struggle with the government.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem withdrew certification Harvard required to enrol foreign students on campus last month; this action was quickly reversed by a judge.
Last Thursday, another federal judge maintained that ruling stating she would place a longer-term stay allowing overseas students to continue their education at Harvard while the legal dispute is under way.
But Wednesday’s declaration once more puts the futures of thousands of foreign students in flux.
With almost 7,000 foreign students—who accounted for 27% of Harvard’s student body—the 2024–2025 academic year looked.
Just days before Trump promised to “aggressively” cancel visas for Chinese students, last week a Chinese Harvard student appealed for unity during the university’s graduation ceremony.
Accusing colleges of failing to address antisemitism among demonstrations against the war in Gaza across campuses, the Trump administration has escalated its campaign on higher education in the US in the previous few months.
Earlier on Wednesday, claiming Columbia University violated the civil rights of its Jewish students, the White House threatened to revoke the university’s accreditation.
