Harvard blocked by DHS from enrolling international students

(by Dan Mangan, CNBC) – The Trump administration blocked Harvard University on Thursday from enrolling future international students and retaining currently enrolled foreign students.

The Department of Homeland Security said it revoked Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification because the private school’s leadership “has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.”

“Many of these agitators are foreign students,” DHS said.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in April threatened to revoke Harvard’s SEVP certification if the university did not comply with [DHS’ request] for information about purported “criminality and misconduct of foreign students on campus,” the department said.

“Harvard University brazenly refused to provide the required information requested and ignored a follow up request from the Department’s Office of General Council,” DHS said.

Noem, in a statement Thursday after ordering the SEVP revocation, said, “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”

Harvard called Noem’s action “unlawful.”

“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 said in a statement.

“We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community,” the statement said.

“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

DHS said that in addition to barring enrollment of future international students, “existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.”

…As of the fall 2023 semester, international students comprised more than 27% of Harvard’s total enrollment [undergraduate and graduate], according to university data.

As Noem’s order became public, a federal judge in Oakland, California, issued an injunction against President Donald Trump and Noem barring them from terminating the legal status of international students pending the outcome of a lawsuit challenging the termination of the legal status of several such students.

The injunction could block the Trump administration from acting on its threat against international students currently enrolled at Harvard.

In a statement Thursday, Noem said:

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”

“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. Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing,” Noem said.

“It refused.”

“They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law. …”

The Trump administration in April froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, hours after the university roundly rejected demands that it eliminate [as the secretary said racist] diversity, equity and inclusion programs (DEI) and [that it also assess international students to find those who hold and act upon pro-Hamas, anti-semitic ideologies].

An April DHS press release noted:

“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” said Secretary Noem. “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”

Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Harvard’s foreign visa-holding rioters and faculty have spewed antisemitic hate, targeting Jewish students. With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos—DHS won’t. And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students.

Published at CNBC on May 22. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission.