Harvard University leaders have attempted to alleviate “anxiety” felt among international students and vowed to “push back” against the Trump administration's move to halt the institution’s ability to enroll foreign students and demand that those currently enrolled leave.
Several faculty deans and leaders from at least seven departments sent messages about the revocation, which could impact the university’s almost 6,800 international students, who comprise more than 27 percent of the student body.
The outpouring of support came after the administration ramped up its attack against the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university on Thursday for failing to comply with its policy demands.
“Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
She accused the university of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”
In a letter to his department on Thursday, philosophy chair Bernhard Nickel said that the Trump administration had chosen to pick a “fight” with Harvard and other Ivy League institutions.
“In its fight with Harvard specifically and higher education generally, the Trump administration is using international students as pawns,” Philosophy chair Bernhard Nickel wrote to his department, according to the university’s student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. “International students are essential members of our community. We welcome you.”
Classics director of undergraduate studies Paul Kosmin told his department that Harvard’s lawyers were preparing to contest the administration’s action in court.
“There should be more clarity over the next couple of days, and Harvard has a deep bench of very able lawyers to push back on this unprecedented step,” he said.
While in a joint email to residents, the faculty deans of Adams House, Salmaan Keshavjee and Mercedes Becerra, empathised with students and shared their support. “We’ve heard some hard news today that has caused a lot of anxiety in our community. We want our international students to know that you are an essential part of Adams House. All of us — Deans, House Staff and Tutors — are here to support you,” they said.
After Homeland Security’s announcement, a spokesperson for the university called the move “unlawful.”
“We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university — and this nation — immeasurably,” media relations director Jason Newton said.
“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.”
The Trump administration previously warned that the university’s federal funding was at risk if it did not comply with the president’s efforts to eliminate diversity programs, cooperate with immigration enforcement, dissolve pro-Palestine demonstrations and submit to a “viewpoint diversity” audit.
Harvard then filed a lawsuit alleging that Trump was simultaneously “exploiting” and ignoring federal law and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which forbids discrimination at federally funded institutions.
Dozens of other universities were warned they could similarly lose hundreds of millions of federal funding if they didn’t fall in line with the president’s vision of campus civil rights, which has categorized all participants in pro-Palestine protests, which included scores of Jewish student leaders, as antisemitic Hamas sympathizers.
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