SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Nate Raymond and Ted Hesson
Boston: US President Donald Trump’s administration has revoked Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students 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 termination of Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, the department said in a statement. Noem accused the university of “fostering violence and antisemitism and co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party”.
Harvard said the move, which affects thousands of students, was illegal and amounted to retaliation.
Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd said he was closely monitoring developments on the future enrolment of international students.
“I know this will be distressing for Harvard’s many Australian students,” he posted on X on Friday AEST.
“The embassy is working with the United States government to obtain the details of this decision. We also intend to engage the administration more broadly on the impact of this decision for Australian students and their families, both at Harvard and at other campuses across the United States.”
About 120 Australian students study at the university, according to an estimate on the Harvard International Office website.
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.
During the election campaign, Trump promised to combat antisemitism on campuses, to take on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, and to rid campuses of foreign students he considers hostile to American values. After several other prominent schools signalled their willingness to comply with Trump’s demands, Harvard stood firm against the pressure.
The international student crackdown 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 6800 international students in the 2024-25 school year: 27 per cent of its total enrolment.Credit: AP
Harvard enrolled nearly 6800 international students in the 2024-25 school year, 27 per cent of its total enrolment according to university statistics.
In 2022, Chinese nationals formed the biggest population of foreign students with 1016, followed by students from Canada, India, South Korea, Britain, Germany, Australia, Singapore and Japan.
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enrol foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments,” Noem said in a statement.
In a letter to the university, Noem gave Harvard “the opportunity” to regain its certification by turning over within 72 hours a raft of records about foreign students, including any video or audio of their protest activity in the past five years.
Harvard called the government’s action “unlawful” and said it was “fully committed” to educating foreign students.
“This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” the university said in a statement.
Congressional Democrats denounced the revocation, with US Representative Jamie Raskin calling it an “intolerable attack on Harvard’s independence and academic freedom” and saying it was government retaliation for Harvard’s previous resistance to Trump.
Trump has frozen some $US3 billion ($4.7 billion) in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, leading the university to sue to restore the funding.
He has also said he wants to strip the university of its tax-exempt status.
In a separate lawsuit related to Trump’s efforts to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students across the US, a federal judge ruled this week 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, 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.”
US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.Credit: AP
Trump took office in January, pledging a wide-ranging immigration crackdown. His Republican administration has tried to revoke student visas and green cards of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
He has undertaken an extraordinary effort to revamp private colleges and schools across the US, claiming they foster anti-American, Marxist and “radical left” ideologies. He has criticised Harvard for hiring prominent Democrats for teaching or leadership positions.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said this week that it was terminating a further $US60 million ($94 million) in federal grants to Harvard because it failed to address antisemitic harassment and ethnic discrimination. In a legal complaint filed this month, Harvard said it was committed to combating antisemitism and had taken steps to ensure its campus is safe and welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow with the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration advocacy group, said the action against Harvard’s student visa program “needlessly punishes thousands of innocent students”.
“None of them have done anything wrong, they’re just collateral damage to Trump,” he said on the social media site Bluesky.
Foreign undergraduates at US colleges typically pay full tuition, an important source of revenue for colleges and universities.
International students at Harvard also contributed to the local economy, data from NAFSA: Association of International Educators shows, spending $US384 million ($600 million) a year in the 2023-24 school year, supporting some 3900 jobs through their payments for housing, dining, retail and other services and goods.
Reuters
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