United States acting president Donald Trump has directed Harvard University to bar the enrollment of international students, according to international media reports.
According to media reports, after the presidential order Harvard has declared in a statement that it would no longer accept international students. It also announced that those who are currently enrolled will have to transfer or risk losing their legal status.
In response to DHS’s request last month for conduct records for international students, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem instructed the department to revoke Harvard’s certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Noem accused Harvard of “maintaining an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ practices” in a letter sent to the university on Thursday.
The Homeland Security statement stated, “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
As it attempts to influence certain campus programs, policies, hiring, and admissions by threatening to stop providing government funds, Harvard has turned into a focal point for the Trump administration’s conflicts with prestigious US colleges.
Following divisive college demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas conflict, Trump administration officials claim they are working to eradicate anti-Semitism and eradicate DEI activities they condemn as “illegal and immoral discrimination.”
It is important to mention here that nearly 6,800 international students attend Harvard’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus, making up more than 25% of the student body in these institutes. The majority, who come from over 100 countries, are graduate students.
