2 days Ago By Grant Welker
The Trump administration has a new target in its escalating fight with Harvard University : international students. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told Harvard in a letter Wednesday that its ability to enroll international students would be revoked if the school doesn’t provide broad information on student visa holders, including any known illegal activity, threats to other students, and whether such acts occurred on campus. “It is a privilege to have foreign students attend Harvard University, not a guarantee,” Noem said in the letter.
Noem accused Harvard of creating “a hostile learning environment for Jewish students due to Harvard’s failure to condemn antisemitism.” Harvard President Alan Garber has told the Trump administration that the university acknowledges its need to improve its protection of Jewish students. Harvard didn’t have a response to Noem’s demands by the end of the day Thursday.
Harvard gave a rare rebuke of the Trump administration by saying Monday that it wouldn’t comply with the government’s demands that it agree to "governance reform" and "merit-based hiring policies." "The university will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights," Garber said in a letter to the public on Monday. Within hours, the administration said it would freeze $2.
2 billion in multiyear grants and contracts. That came after the administration said it would review nearly $9 billion in grants and contracts, in part because of alleged antisemitism. Harvard is the nation's richest school, with an endowment exceeding $53 billion , and it is among the most selective universities anywhere.
But an inability to attract international students could hurt the Boston area economy . More than 47,000 international students are enrolled at Northeastern University , Boston University , Harvard and MIT , according to the Institute of International Education, a total that includes students at Northeastern’s other campuses. Statewide, the total is more than 82,000.
The IIE estimates that international students spend nearly $4 billion a year in Massachusetts. Subscribe to the Morning Edition or Afternoon Edition for the business news you need to know, all free..
