Trump administration says Harvard could lose ‘privilege’ to admit foreign students
School could also lose tax exempt status, government has warned; Republicans in Congress launch probe of top university, demanding documents on hiring practices and campus protests
WASHINGTON — The US Department of Homeland Security said Harvard University will lose its ability to enroll foreign students if it does not meet demands from the Trump administration to share information on some visa holders, marking the government’s latest escalation against the educational institution.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced on Wednesday the termination of two DHS grants totaling more than $2.7 million to Harvard.
Noem said she wrote a letter to Harvard demanding records on what she called the “illegal and violent activities” of Harvard’s foreign student visa holders by April 30.
“And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” Noem said in a statement.
A Harvard spokesperson said the university was aware of Noem’s letter “regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas.”
The spokesperson said the university stood by its statement earlier in the week to “not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” while saying it will comply with the law.
“With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos, DHS won’t,” Noem said, adding an “anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology” existed at Harvard.
Also on Thursday, Republicans in the US Congress announced an investigation into Harvard, accusing it of flouting civil rights law.
The lawmakers wrote to the world-renowned education and research establishment demanding documents on its hiring practices, diversity programs and last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests.
The letter — signed by House Oversight Committee chair James Comer and House leadership chair Elise Stefanik — came with Trump seeking unprecedented levels of control over the country’s oldest and wealthiest university.
Comer and Stefanik castigated Harvard President Alan Garber for rejecting demands for supervision by the White House, which has canceled $2.2 billion in funding and threatened further reprisals.
“Harvard is apparently so unable or unwilling to prevent unlawful discrimination that the institution, at your direction, is refusing to enter into a reasonable settlement agreement proposed by federal officials intended to put Harvard back in compliance with the law,” they told Garber. “No matter how entitled your behavior, no institution is entitled to violate the law.”
US President Donald Trump’s administration has threatened universities with federal funding cuts over pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel campus protests against Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, sparked by the deadly October 2023 onslaught by the terror group that killed some 1,200 people and saw another 251 taken hostage.
Trump casts the protesters as foreign policy threats who are antisemitic and sympathetic to Hamas. The Trump administration is also attempting to deport some foreign protesters and has revoked hundreds of visas across the country.
Harvard has previously said it worked to fight antisemitism and other prejudice on its campus while preserving academic freedoms and the right to protest.
The Trump administration said late last month it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard and later called for restrictions — including a mask ban and removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs — to be put in place for the university to continue receiving federal money.
Harvard on Monday rejected numerous demands that it said would cede control to the government. The Trump administration subsequently said it was freezing $2.3 billion in funding.
Trump also threatened on Tuesday to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. CNN reported on Wednesday the US Internal Revenue Service was making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of Harvard and that a final decision was expected soon.
Harvard said there was no legal basis to rescind its tax-exempt status, saying such an action would be unprecedented, would diminish its financial aid for students and would lead to the abandonment of some critical medical research programs.
Human rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the crackdown by the government.
The Trump administration has frozen or canceled some funding for universities like Columbia, Princeton, Brown, Cornell and Northwestern as well. It has also threatened to withhold funding over culture war issues such as DEI programs and transgender policies.
The Times of Israel Community.