The future queen of Belgium may face complications pursuing her master’s degree at Harvard amid the Trump administration’s move on Thursday to ban the Ivy League school from enrolling international students.
Princess Elisabeth, 23, is the eldest of four children to Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, and the future heir to the throne. The Duchess of Brabant is currently pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at Harvard, following an undergraduate degree in history and politics from Oxford University in the U.K.
“Princess Elisabeth has just completed her first year. The impact of (the Trump administration’s) decision will only become clearer in the coming days/weeks,” the Belgian Royal Palace’s spokesperson Lore Vandoorne told Reuters. “We are currently investigating the situation.”
Harvard sued the administration on Friday in response to the ban, arguing efforts to block foreign students from enrolling violates the First Amendment and would significantly alter the university’s operations, where a quarter of the student body are international students.
The Belgian Royal Palace’s communication director, Xavier Baert, added they will “let things settle,” and that a “lot can still happen in the coming days and weeks,” Reuters reported.
The ongoing battle between the Trump administration and America’s oldest university was sparked after Harvard rejected a list of the administration’s demands issued by the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, including reforms to who the Ivy League school is allowed to hire and admit.
Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, said in a letter to the university’s community on Friday that the actions against international students are “unlawful and unwarranted.”
“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 fulfill their dreams,” Garber wrote.
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