US Homeland Security orders Harvard to hand over international student-activists records – JURIST
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday ordered Harvard University to give records on student visa holders’ “violent activities” by April 30, or risk losing Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. DHS also canceled $2.7 million in grant funding, finding the school to be “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
“Since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Harvard’s foreign visa-holding rioters and faculty have spewed antisemitic hate, targeting Jewish students. With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos—DHS won’t,” stated Noem in a press release.
The Joint Task Force to combat anti-Semitism froze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University Monday. The funding freeze came hours after Harvard rejected demands made by the Trump administration, stating:
These demands extend not only to Harvard but to separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals engaging in life-saving work on behalf of their patients. The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.
The demands rejected by Harvard include audits of academic programs and audits of viewpoints of students, faculty, and staff. Additional scrutiny will be placed on the university’s internal governance and hiring practices.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement requires universities to obtain a certificate to admit international students. Under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, the certification is necessary for a school to issue a “Certificate of Eligibility for Student Status” to its prospective international students such that they can obtain a student visa and enter the US. The revocation will bar Harvard from recruiting international students.
In March, Columbia University, another Ivy League university, agreed to the Trump administration’s demands amid fear of federal funding cuts. The demands include the supervision of its Middle East studies program and the implementation of rules for student protests.
The latest action against Harvard is part of Trump’s plan to combat antisemitism since January. The US DOJ also launched an investigation in March against the University of California to determine whether its system engaged in a pattern of antisemitic discrimination.
