The Department of Homeland Security in the United States has warned Harvard that its ability to enrol foreign students will be revoked if the university continues to refuse government demands, including being placed under political supervision and providing information about students from overseas.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote a “scathing” letter on Wednesday demanding detailed records on what she called the “illegal and violent activities” of Harvard’s foreign students, which comes amid US President Donald Trump’s purge of pro-Palestinian activism in US schools.
The university has, Noem wrote, until April 30 to comply with the demand “or face immediate loss of Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) certification”.
“And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” Noem said in a statement.
The letter specifically called on the university to provide all information about threats by students who hold visas against other students or university personnel, their obstruction of the university’s learning environment, and any disciplinary action taken by the university as a result of participating in protests or alleged threats.
According to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper, the letter from the Department of Homeland Security also accused the prestigious university of creating a “hostile learning environment” for Jewish students, and reminded that it was “a privilege to have foreign students attend Harvard University, not a guarantee”.
Noem also announced the cancellation of more than $2.7m in grants to the university, declaring the Ivy League school unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars and accusing it of undermining American values and security.
“Harvard bending the knee to anti-Semitism – driven by its spineless leadership – fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” Noem said.
President Trump is furious at the storied university, which has produced 162 Nobel Prize winners, for rejecting his demand to submit to government supervision on admissions, hiring and political stance.
The Trump administration has already frozen or cancelled some funding for universities such as Columbia, Princeton, Brown, Cornell and Northwestern, in his ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestinian activities among faculty and students across the US.
Harvard has rejected numerous demands by the Trump administration that it said would cede control to the government. The Trump administration subsequently said it was freezing $2.3bn in funding.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status and CNN reported on Wednesday the US Internal Revenue Service was making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of Harvard and that a final decision was expected soon.
Reuters news agency quoted a Harvard spokesperson as saying that the university was aware of the Department of Homeland Security letter “regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas,” but that the university stood by its statement earlier in the week not to cede control to the government.
Harvard also said there was no legal basis to rescind its tax-exempt status, saying such an action would be unprecedented, would diminish its financial aid for students and would lead to the abandonment of some critical medical research programmes.
Human rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over Trump’s crackdown.
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