Trump administration threatens Harvard’s foreign enrollment, tax-free status
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Harvard University would lose the ability to recruit foreign students if it does not meet the Trump administration’s requirement to share information about certain visa holders, marking the government’s latest upgrade to educational institutions.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced Wednesday that it had terminated two DHS grants totaling more than $2.7 million in Harvard University.
Norm said she wrote a letter to Harvard University asking for records of what she called “illegal and violent” by Harvard’s foreign student visa holders by April 30.
“And if Harvard cannot verify that it fully meets its reporting requirements, the university will lose its privilege to enroll foreign students,” Norm said in a statement.
A Harvard spokesman said the university realized that Norm’s letter was “a letter about canceling and reviewing foreign student visas.”
The spokesman said the university insisted in a statement earlier this week that it “don’t give up independence or waive its constitutional rights” while also saying it would comply with the law.
Conflicts in protests
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration threatens the university in protest against our ally Israeli devastating military attacks on Gaza following the deadly attacks of Palestinian Hamas militants in October 2023.
Trump sees protesters as anti-Semitic and sympathetic foreign policy threats. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the Trump administration mistakenly advocated for Palestinian rights and criticized Israeli actions in Gaza and supported extremism and anti-Semitism.
Some claim that outsiders are supporting pro-Palestinian student protests on campuses in the United States and Canada. CBC’s Ben Makuch Facts – Check these claims to find out what’s really going on.
The Trump administration has also tried to expel some foreign protesters and has revoked hundreds of visas nationwide.
Harvard has previously said it strives to fight anti-Semitism and other prejudice on campus while retaining academic freedom and right to protest.
The Trump administration said in the second half of last month that it would review $9 billion in federal contracts and Harvard’s grants, later calling for restrictions on restrictions, including masking the ban and removing diversity, equity and inclusion programs to allow universities to continue to receive federal funding.
Harvard University on Monday rejected many claims to bring control. The Trump administration later said it was freezing $2.3 billion in funding.
Trump also threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status on Tuesday. CNN reported Wednesday that the IRS is planning to cancel Harvard’s tax-free status and is expected to make a final decision soon.
Harvard said there is no legal basis to revoke its tax-exempt status, saying such actions would be unprecedented, would reduce financial aid to students and would lead to the abandonment of some important medical research programs.
Researchers feel pinched
Since the end of World War II, the government has identified areas of strategic research in public health, military or other fields. The researchers then responded by proposing projects, where less than the top 10% of projects are likely to receive federal funding.
For decades, the university has provided infrastructure and management for these joint projects. Researchers are usually university-independent, have no teaching duties or relationships with students and the federal government.
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Harvard scientist Donald Ingber, PhD, who works at a medical and engineering conference, told Reuters he has seen two government research contracts worth more than $20 million since the Trump administration announced it had frozen $2.3 billion.
According to Ingber, focus on evaluating and developing drugs to combat radiation damage in humans. This work can be the basis for helping cancer patients cope with the side effects of radiation therapy, and it can be used to protect soldiers and civilians during nuclear wars or nuclear power plant explosions.
Ingber also said that after he knew of the DOC, applicants now refuse to accept research positions in the United States because they are afraid to live in the United States as foreigners. They are turning to China or Europe for work.
“We are the best young scientists in the world to pursue innovation,” Ingber said.
A U.S. judge ruled that Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student and pro-Palestinian activist at Columbia University, could be deported as a national security risk. Khalil is the first arrest of the Trump administration’s pledge to suppress campus protests.
White House spokesman Kush Desai said the funding freeze in Harvard and Colombia was “just one thing, only one thing: addressing anti-Semitism.”
“Anti-Semitic protesters create violence and take over the entire university campus building is not only a rough demonstration of paranoia targeting Jewish Americans, but also completely undermines the knowledge enquiry and research that federal funds for universities are designed to support,” Desai said.
Human rights advocates have raised concerns about free speech and academic freedom over the government’s repression.
The Trump administration has also frozen or cancelled some funds for universities such as Columbia, Princeton, Brown, Cornell and Northwest.
