CNA Explains: Trump’s standoff with Harvard and how it affects international students

President Donald Trump’s administration escalated its standoff with Harvard University on Thursday (Mar 22), revoking the school’s ability to enrol international students.

Existing international students at the university must also transfer to other schools, or risk losing their legal status.

The conflict between Trump officials and Harvard had been building for months over demands that the university submit conduct records about foreign students, as well as change its admissions and hiring practices to combat antisemitism on campus. 

The move could significantly affect the university, which enrols nearly 6,800 international students. Other universities could also be in the firing line.

What is Trump’s problem with elite universities?

The Trump administration has been applying pressure on elite universities across the US – not just Harvard – as part of a broader political strategy to reshape academia’s race-based admissions and its perceived liberal bias.

Trump claims private colleges and schools across the US foster anti-American, Marxist and “radical left” ideologies.

His administration has also made demands to limit pro-Palestinian protests on campus, and tried to revoke the visas and green cards of foreign students who participated in such demonstrations.

There were also demands to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies, in line with his national agenda.

Why Harvard?

Harvard – America’s oldest and wealthiest university – became the first elite college to push back against Trump’s demands.

That triggered a series of escalatory actions in April, including the termination of grants and federal funding to the university. Harvard sued to end the grant freeze.

On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification effective for the 2025-2026 school year.

This means Harvard can no longer enrol foreign students, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.

“Harvard’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,” the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday.

It also cited China’s Communist Party (CCP) as a factor.

“Harvard’s leadership further facilitated, and engaged in coordinated activity with the CCP, including hosting and training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide,” the department stated on its website.

Can Trump do this?

The US government holds authority over who it allows to enter the country, and the Department of Homeland Security oversees which universities are part of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

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 is “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.

In a separate lawsuit related to Trump’s efforts to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students across the country, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the administration could not end their status without following proper regulatory procedures.

It is not immediately clear how this ruling would impact the administration’s move against Harvard.