Donald Trump launches his attack on Harvard and revokes the university's ability to enroll international students . The crackdown is a new blow to the university, which the president has already deprived of billions of dollars in funding, and opens the way to a new legal battle.
In announcing the revocation of the International Student and Visitor Program certification, the Department of Homeland Security is making clear that international students currently enrolled at Harvard must transfer or lose their legal status.
“Harvard’s leadership has created an unsafe campus environment by allowing anti-American and pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise disrupt its once-venerable learning environment,” the Department of Homeland Security said, also accusing the university’s leadership of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.
The ministry led by Kristi Noem had given Harvard until the end of April to report students who had committed "illegal and violent acts." And now, almost a month before the deadline, Noem is effectively putting a noose around the university's neck in the name of the crusade against anti-Semitism and policies inspired by diversity, equity, and inclusion.
"This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fomenting violence, anti-Semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition, thereby helping to increase their multibillion-dollar endowment," Noem criticized.
It is likely, the New York Times reports, that the university will respond to the president's crackdown with a new lawsuit. At Harvard, there are about 6,800 foreign students this year, about 27% of the total, a figure up from 19.7% in 2010. Some of them are admitted with grants and others pay the full tuition of $83,000. From Italy, 500 have applied but only three have managed to get in: all with scholarships, according to data from Uni Student Advisors, the organization that helped them enroll.
(Online Union)
