Friday, May 23, 2025 - A judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration's plan to strip Harvard University of its ability to enrol foreign students.
The ruling came after Harvard filed a lawsuit - the latest
escalation of a dispute between the White House and one of America's most
prestigious institutions.
The university said the administration's decision on
Thursday was a "blatant violation" of the law and free speech
rights.
The Trump administration says Harvard has not done enough to
fight antisemitism and change its hiring and admissions practices – allegations
that the university has strongly denied.
US District Judge Allison Burroughs issued a temporary
restraining order in a short ruling issued on Friday.
The order pauses a move that the Department of Homeland
Security made on Thursday to revoke Harvard's access to the Student and
Exchange Visitor Program - a government database that manages foreign students.
There are around 6,800 international students at Harvard,
who make up more than 27% of its enrolments this year.
"With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to
erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, international students who
contribute significantly to the University and its mission," Harvard
argued in the lawsuit.
"We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,"
Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter.
"The revocation continues a series of government
actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic
independence and to submit to the federal government's illegal assertion of
control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body," he wrote.
In response, White House deputy press secretary Abigail
Jackson said: "If only Harvard cared this much about ending the scourge of
anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators on their campus they
wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.
"Harvard should spend their time and resources on
creating a safe campus environment instead of filing frivolous lawsuits,"
Jackson said in a statement.
'We did not sign up for this': Harvard's
foreign students are stuck and scared
Harvard relies heavily on the money that comes from
international students who make up nearly a third of its student body. Many of
them pay full tuition while domestic students can access assistance like
scholarships and loans.
A year's tuition at Harvard Law School, for example, costs
$80,760 (£60,758). With housing, food, insurance and other expenses included,
students can expect to pay around $120,000 (£90,192) for the year.
The Trump administration has taken aim at Harvard and other
elite institutions, not only arguing that they should do more to clamp down on
pro-Palestinian activists but also claiming they discriminate against
conservative viewpoints.
It has launched investigations into dozens of universities
across the country and wrung concessions from other major US institutions like
Columbia University in New York.
In April, the White House froze $2.2bn (£1.7bn) in
federal funding to Harvard, and Trump has threated to remove the university's
tax-exempt status, a standard designation for US educational institutions.
The funding freeze prompted an earlier Harvard lawsuit,
also asking the courts to stop the administration's actions.
Harvard, one of eight elite Ivy League universities, is
located just outside Boston in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
While Harvard leaders have made concessions - including
dismissing the leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies, who had come
under fire for failing to represent Israeli perspectives - the latest lawsuit
indicates the university is willing to fight the Trump administration in court.
The university has enlisted several high-profile Republican
lawyers in its battle, including an advisor to the Trump Organization and
Robert Hur, a former special counsel who investigated Joe Biden's retention of
classified documents.
Foreign students currently attending Harvard have
expressed worries that the row between their institution could force them
to return home.
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