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Trump revokes Harvard's ability to record international students

Trump revokes Harvard's ability to record international students

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Kristi Noem, secretary of the home protection authority, said existing international students in Harvard have to transfer or risk losing their legal status.

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Washington -The Trump administration has the ability of Harvard University to record international students, to record the Ivy League campus in chaos and to endanger the legal status of more than a quarter of its students.

The move marks a significant escalation in the struggle of the White House, put the university under pressure to bend in order to revise the approvals, settings and teaching practices. The decision will almost certainly arrange a legal challenge of the university that is already against the federal government in active legal disputes because it has frozen billions of dollars of research financing.

Read more: Harvard scientist Kseniia Petrova for smuggling when she fights against the deportation

In an explanation, Kristi Noem said that the secretary of the home protection authority said that current international students in Harvard have to be transferred to other universities or risk losing their legal status.

Noem said she would rethink her decision if Harvard – within 72 hours – would meet her demands for further information, including the provision of disciplinary documents from all international students in the past five years.

In the past few months, the federal authorities have attacked dozens of universities across the country who have accused civil servants not to do enough to protect Jewish students. The government has canceled billions of dollars of research grants and contracts, which has forced significant layoffs and budget cuts in many institutions.

Read more: International college students bring billions to the United States. Here is why that can change.

“It is a privilege to not register foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition fees in order to promote their foundations of several billion dollars,” said NoEM. “Harvard had many opportunities to do the right thing. It declined.”

In a statement, Harvard spokesman Jason Newton said that the university quickly worked on Thursday to offer students and faculties instructions and support.

“The government's measures are illegal. We are fully obliged to maintain Harvard's ability to align international students and scientists who come from more than 140 countries and enrich this nation immeasurably,” he said. “This retaliation measure threatens serious damage to the Harvard community and our country and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.”

Foreign students fascinated: “It just feels so sad”

The decision was fascinated by Harvard's international student community, some of which are waiting for the coming weekend. More than 25% of Harvard's total student population are international students, with around 6,800 of this academic year registered.

“To be honest, it just feels so sad at the moment,” said Leo Gerdén, a 22-year-old Harvard student from Sweden, who studied economy and government. “I had an incredible time at this university. Harvard was always known to bring the best people from all over the world together. Now all of this could be taken away from us and Harvard will no longer be Harvard.”

Gerdén said that international students still understood the effects of the change on Thursday afternoon.

Zachary Schermele is an educational reporter for USA Today. You can reach him by e -mail at zschschmele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @zachschermele and bluesky at @zachschermele.bsky.social.

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