Washington: Harvard University has sued the administration of US President Donald Trump for a second time, one day after the Homeland Security Department said it would block the prestigious university from enrolling international students.
“The revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body,” Harvard University President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to members of the Harvard community Friday.
“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action. It imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfil their dreams,” Garber said.
The Harvard president said the university has just filed a complaint, and a motion for a temporary restraining order will follow. “As we pursue legal remedies, we will do everything in our power to support our students and scholars,” he added.
US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the decision Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country,” Noem said in a statement. “Enrolling international students is a privilege — not a right — and that privilege has been revoked due to Harvard’s repeated failure to comply with federal law.”
The secretary noted that in addition to barring enrollment of future international students, “existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.”
On April 11, Trump administration officials sent a letter to Harvard, demanding that the university make “meaningful governance reform and restructuring.”
The administration’s main demands include eliminating what it describes as antisemitism on campus and dismantling diversity initiatives that favour certain minority groups.
On April 14, Harvard University rejected the Trump administration’s demands to make sweeping changes to its governance, hiring and admissions practices.
Just a few hours later, the Trump administration announced a freeze on 2.2 billion US dollars in multi-year grants and 60 million in multi-year contract value to the university.
On April 16, Noem demanded that Harvard University share information about the foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities by April 30, or risk losing its authorisation to enrol international students.
On April 21, Harvard University said that it has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration’s funding freeze, calling the action “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority”.
As of the fall 2023 semester, international students made up over 27 per cent of Harvard’s student body, according to university data.
