Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened Wednesday to ban Harvard University from taking in foreign students amid a growing battle over the Ivy League school not accepting the demands of the Trump administration to change its policies.
According to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announcement, Noem sent a “scathing letter” to Harvard demanding the university hand over records of foreign students who have been involved in illegal or violent activities.
If the school does not give the information by April 30, the administration said it will take away its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.
Along with the demand for foreign student information, the DHS said it will cancel two grants worth $2.7 million, alleging the Ivy League school is “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
One of the grants funded a “shockingly skewed study” that “branded conservatives as far-right dissidents” and the other “funded Harvard’s public health propaganda,” according to a department press release.
“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” Noem said. “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
Harvard is in the administration’s crosshairs after openly rejecting multiple academic and disciplinary demands from it. Billions in federal grants to the Massachusetts school have been frozen, and the IRS is examining its tax-exempt status.
Hundreds of student visas have been revoked across the country, with the administration particularly targeting those who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
The administration has argued Secretary of State Marco Rubio can use a provision of immigration law that allows him to order the deportation of a noncitizen who could have adverse effects on U.S. foreign policy.
In last week’s deportation proceedings regarding former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, an immigration judge ruled the case could move forward based on that argument from the administration.
“Harvard is aware of the Department of Homeland Security’s letter regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas, which — like the Administration’s announcement of the freeze of $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts, and reports of the revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status — follows on the heels of our statement that Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” a spokesperson for Harvard said.
“We continue to stand by that statement. We will continue to comply with the law and expect the Administration to do the same,” the spokesperson added.
