CNA Explains: Trump's standoff with Harvard and how it affects international students

President Donald Trump's administration escalated its standoff with Harvard University on Thursday (May 22), revoking the school’s ability to enrol international students.

Existing international students at the university must also transfer to other schools, or risk losing their legal status.

The conflict between Trump officials and Harvard had been building for months over demands that the university submit conduct records about foreign students, as well as change its admissions and hiring practices to combat antisemitism on campus. 

The move could significantly affect the university, which enrolled nearly 6,800 international students this academic year. Other universities could also be in the firing line.

What is Trump's problem with elite universities?

The Trump administration has been applying pressure on elite universities across the US - not just Harvard - as part of a broader political strategy to reshape academia’s race-based admissions and its perceived liberal bias.

Trump claims private colleges and schools across the US foster anti-American, Marxist and "radical left" ideologies.

His administration has also made demands to limit pro-Palestinian protests on campus, and tried to revoke the visas and green cards of foreign students who participated in such demonstrations.

There were also demands to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies, in line with his national agenda.

Why Harvard?

Harvard - America's oldest and wealthiest university - became the first elite college to push back against Trump's demands.

That triggered a series of escalatory actions in April, including the termination of grants and federal funding to the university. Harvard sued to end the grant freeze.

On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification effective for the 2025-2026 school year.

This means Harvard can no longer enrol foreign students, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.

"Harvard’s leadership has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment," the Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday.

It also cited China's Communist Party (CCP) as a factor.

"Harvard’s leadership further facilitated, and engaged in coordinated activity with the CCP, including hosting and training members of a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide," the department stated on its website.

Can Trump do this?

The US government holds authority over who it allows to enter the country, and the Department of Homeland Security oversees which universities are part of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.

In a letter to the university, Noem gave Harvard "the opportunity" to regain its certification by turning over within 72 hours a raft of records about foreign students, including any video or audio of their protest activity in the past five years.

Harvard called the government's action "unlawful" and said it is "fully committed" to educating foreign students.

"This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission," the university said in a statement.

In a separate lawsuit related to Trump’s efforts to terminate the legal status of hundreds of foreign students across the country, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the administration could not end their status without following proper regulatory procedures.

It is not immediately clear how this ruling would impact the administration’s move against Harvard.

What happens to international students?

There are around 6,800 international students enrolled in Harvard's current academic year, making up 27 per cent of its total enrolment, according to university statistics.

Students who complete their degrees this semester will be allowed to graduate. Harvard’s Class of 2025 is expected to graduate next week.

Students who are mid-way through their degrees, however, will need to transfer to another university or lose legal permission to remain in the US. This is also true for international students who are expected to enter Harvard this year and have accepted admission offers on May 1.

The announcement has caused some anxiety and confusion.

Leo Gerden, a student from Sweden, said that international students are being used as “poker chips” in a battle between the White House and the university.

"Trump is essentially trying to install himself as the provost, the president of this university,” said Gerden, who is set to graduate next week.

He told CNA's Asia First that Harvard has not made any announcements about the Trump administration’s order for the transfer of international students to other schools.

He added that he thinks it would be risky for them to change schools within the US.

"I would say that transferring to another institution is also going to be very risky, because this will not stop with Harvard. It is going to go to other universities as well," said Gerden.

What is the impact on Harvard?

Many international students are in graduate programmes, and their move to other schools could affect Harvard's research programmes, said Alex Usher, president of education consultancy Higher Education Strategy Associates.

"They're losing a massive chunk of their STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) programme graduate students. And it affects their ability to do top-end research in many fields,” the education consultant told CNA.

The funding cut has forced Harvard to make adjustments.

In a letter to the Harvard community in April, university president Alan Garber said that "the consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting".

Research that the government has put in jeopardy includes studies on childhood cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, he added.

According to Bloomberg, in the last academic year, Harvard received about US$700 million in research funding from various federal agencies, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense and Energy.

As Harvard looks to counter the loss of federal funds, it has said it will free up an extra US$250 million of university money to help pay for research during the coming academic year, adding to the approximately US$500 million it already spends on research annually, Bloomberg reported.

Beyond Harvard, Usher noted the wider impact of losing international students. These students bring in revenue for the US economy by working and spending money in their community, making the education sector one of the country's strongest exports, he said.

Gerden added that these actions by the Trump administration may limit the ability of the US as a “world centre” for academic success.

"Imagine being an incoming freshman having been accepted to Harvard, and now seeing this news, people are definitely thinking twice about going to this country, because … you don't know whether you will be able to finish your degree at all.”

Has the US government done this before?

The US government can and does remove universities from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, although it is usually for administrative reasons outlined in law. This includes failing to maintain accreditation, lacking proper facilities for classes and failing to employ qualified professional personnel.

Senior Research Fellow at Heritage Foundation Jay Greene said the move against Harvard is the Trump administration’s way of demonstrating they will prevail in the fight against Harvard, despite Harvard’s status and large endowment fund.

"The federal government is bigger and richer and will prevail here in this fight,” he told Reuters. "And I think Harvard understands that and really all that they are doing is positioning for a better deal."

"There will be an agreement between Harvard and the Trump administration. And it will be a reasonable deal that will allow Harvard to move forward and offer a quality education," Greene added. "So none of this is catastrophic. It is just a fight for positioning for a better deal for each side."

Usher, the education consultant, told CNA that Trump simply wants to be able to dictate university policy.

He noted that apart from the funding cuts, the administration had to resort to a different method to try and get the wealthy university to comply.

"If he can get them to back down, then he can use it on all the other institutions as well," said Usher.

Are other universities at risk?                      

When asked in an interview with Fox News if Noem was considering similar moves at other universities, the homeland security secretary replied: "Absolutely, we are."

"This should be a warning to every other university to get your act together," she said, reiterating the stance in a statement on Thursday.

"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," Noem said.

"Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country."