The Trump administration officially revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students on Thursday, May 22, 2025, sending shockwaves through academia and beyond.
Thousands of students now face an uncertain future, while Harvard scrambles to fight back against what it calls an ‘unlawful’ and retaliatory move”.
The administration claims Harvard has been fostering violence, antisemitism, and even coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party. Harvard, the institution that has produced 162 Nobel laureates, is now being accused of harboring international conspiracies.
This isn’t the first time Trump has taken aim at Harvard. From affirmative action disputes to funding freezes and threats to revoke tax-exempt status, Trump’s crackdown on elite universities has reached new heights. The administration has long accused elite universities of being breeding grounds for liberal ideology and anti-American sentiment.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered the department to terminate Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification effective for the 2025-2026 school year.
The department said the move came after Harvard refused to provide information that Noem demanded about some foreign student visa holders at Harvard.
Noem has given Harvard 72 hours to comply with demands—turning over records, surveillance footage, and disciplinary files on international students. If they refuse, the ban stays, and Harvard’s international student population—over 6,800 strong—will be forced to transfer or leave the country. The Trump administration has already frozen some $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, leading the university to sue to restore the funding.
The decision marked a significant escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent institutional targets.
The administration also threatens to expand the crackdown to other colleges.
