A U.S. federal judge has temporarily stopped implementation of the Trump administration’s decision to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students.
District Judge Allison D. Burroughs granted a restraining order, a day after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the elite university’s license to take in foreign students had been terminated.
Harvard University, one of the world’s leading institutions, sued the Trump administration Friday.
The university argued that the U.S. Government’s move amounted to “a blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act.”
On Thursday, the Trump administration announced that Harvard could no longer use the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which allows American institutions to enroll noncitizens to study at American universities and colleges and international students are admitted into the United States on specific visa.
The Trump Administration and Harvard have been at odds over the government demands including changes to its admission and academic policies as well as providing information on student visa holders.
These demands have been made in the wake of last year’s massive anti-Gaza war protests that rocked American campuses across several states.
These demands are part of the effort to curb antisemitism and ensure non-discriminatory admission to Harvard and other colleges, government officials argue. The Administration wants an end to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion programs that allow minority communities access to top-quality education and, instead, calls for an open merit-based admission policy.
The Government, earlier, said it was freezing more than 2 billion dollars in funding and contracts that were to be awarded to Harvard.
“As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ policies, you have lost this privilege,” Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stated in a letter to the university.
Harvard earns substantial finances from overseas students pay full tuition fees and cannot access government loans like American students.
The foreign students, in turn, also contribute to the institution maintaining a high standard of research and scholarship.
Reacting to the latest Harvard President Alan Gerber Friday said, “The government has claimed that its destructive action is based on Harvard’s failure to comply with requests for information from the US Department of Homeland Security. In fact, Harvard did respond to the Department’s requests as required by law.”
