Trump administration blocks Harvard from enrolling international students

Move is latest in running battle between US President and Ivy League university

The Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Reuters

President Donald Trump's administration has blocked Harvard University's ability to enrol international students.

International students currently enrolled at the university must transfer to a different institution or lose their legal status, a statement from the Department of Homeland Security said.

“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, anti-Semitism and co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enrol foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.”

In a statement to The National, Harvard said of the decision: “The government’s action is unlawful. We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the University – and this nation – immeasurably.

"We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”

When asked about the Trump administration's move during a news conference, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce told reporters that the decision is part of a broader dialogue about higher education in the country.

"I think that this opens up a conversation, as it should, between the federal government and the universities that we rely on and have been proud of that we deserve to be proud of them again," she said.

"We have an interest as a nation for these universities that are supposed to be the gold standard to actually deliver people who are educated and can function in society and on campuses that encourage a learning environment, as opposed to one of left-wing activism.

"If we’re going to speak about who we rely on for the best and the brightest there’s plenty of American kids who also deserve to be taken seriously," she added.

The news comes after the Trump administration froze billions of dollars in funding for the university earlier this month over allegations it was not doing enough to stop on-campus anti-Semitism, following a wave of pro-Palestine protests last year.

The university filed a lawsuit against the administration after it made a series of demands including that the administration be sent any reports written by the university’s anti-Semitism task force, any drafts of those reports, and the names of anyone involved in “preparing and editing the report”.

“Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused,” Ms Noem said.

The Trump administration's decision to cut funding to Harvard follows $400 million in cuts to Columbia University in New York over accusations that the institutions tolerated anti-Semitism on campus.

Columbia ultimately agreed to a list of demands, including banning face masks on campus, empowering security officers to remove or arrest people, and taking control of the department that offers courses on the Middle East from its faculty, in a bid to restore funding.

Thomas Watkins contributed to this report