The administration of US President Donald Trump has suspended Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday.
“I am writing to inform you that the certification of Harvard University’s Exchange Student and Visitor Program is being revoked,” Noem said in a letter she shared on the social networking site X.
Noem said the Trump administration holds Harvard responsible for “inciting violence, anti-Semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”
“It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll international students and benefit from their higher tuition to help replenish their multibillion-dollar endowments. Harvard had many opportunities to do the right thing. It refused,” she said, adding:
“They lost their Exchange Student and Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to comply with the law.”
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Monday it was terminating $60 million in federal grants to Harvard.
The Trump administration has already frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard and $60 million in contracts.
Harvard sued the administration in response, arguing that the funding freeze violates the First Amendment and federal law, which prohibits the president from directly or indirectly ordering the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct or discontinue an audit or investigation.
Harvard President Alan Garber announced last week that the university would use $250 million of its own funds to support research.
The Trump administration has threatened to freeze federal funding for many universities, including Harvard, citing campus protests in support of Palestine. and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
