WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has shaken up the academia one more time by threatening to ban Harvard University from enrolling international students.
Harvard, world’s renowned varsity enrolling students from across the world every year, has received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threatening to ban the enrollment of foreign students.
Amid a spree of immigration-related changes, the oldest university in the US has been directed by the Trump administration to amend hiring, admissions and teaching practices.
The directives have been issued to help fight antisemitism on campus though the institute claimed it had taken multiple steps to address antisemitism. The university has also alleged that the set of demands by the administration were an effort to regulate the university’s ‘intellectual conditions’.
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has now asked for records regarding the ‘illegal and violent’ activities of Harvard’s foreign student visa-holders.
The threats by the Trump administration are no more veiled as Secretary Kristi Noem said in a letter that Harvard would lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students if it did not comply with the demand for records.
As far as the statistics are concerned, foreign students made up over 27% of Harvard’s enrollment this year. The fresh demands come on top of the threat by Trump to remove Harvard’s tax exemption.
To this day, Harvard has been defying the administration and even claiming that there is no legal basis to remove its tax exemption.
The fire-brand tycoon-turned-president launched a fresh attack on the university on Wednesday. Taking a strong exception, the president said Harvard could ‘no longer be considered even a decent place of learning’.
After entering the Oval Office, Trump has focused particularly on universities where pro-Palestinian protests have taken place. Visas of dozens of students have also been revoked who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Harvard is not the only university under the scrutiny of the White House as Columbia University also agreed to several of the administration’s demands after threats were hurled regarding $400m federal funding freeze.
Harvard University has earlier dismissed the leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies, after facing criticism that the centre failed to represent Israeli perspectives.
The fresh demands are not budging the Harvard’s administration at the moment and Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a message on Monday to the Harvard community that the varsity will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.
Whether Harvard continues defying the administration or ensures compliance depends on the pressure mounted by the administration and the threats hurled in this regard.
