May 22 (UPI) — The Trump administration has stopped Harvard from accepting international students after the Ivy League institution lost its ability to use the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, the Trump administration announced Thursday.
The SEVP allows non-citizens to enroll using a specific visa.
“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 said in a letter to school.
The letter went on to say that, as a result of the revocation, Harvard would be prohibited from having international students using specific types of nonimmigrant visas on campus for the 2025-2026 academic year, and said the students would have to transfer to another university to maintain their nonimmigrant status.
In a separate post on social media, Noem said Harvard had “plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused.”
In April, Noem wrote to Harvard asking university officials to provide the DHS with information about visa holders’ known illegal or violent activity, threats to fellow students or faculty, whether they had been involved in protests or disrupted students’ learning environment, and listing the coursework students were taking to maintain their visa status.
Noem has also said that the administration revoked two grants totaling $2.7 million, citing inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.
The administration’s move is the latest step in a months-long fight with Harvard over international students during which the Trump administration threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt status.
Harvard pushed back on Noem’s Thursday letter, calling the Trump administration’s move “unlawful,” and said it will likely file a second legal challenge.
“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,” in a statement, the BBC reported.