Al-Khabar - The administration of US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that it had revoked Harvard University's right to enroll foreign students amid an escalating dispute between the White House and the prestigious educational institution.
Trump is displeased with the university, which boasts 162 Nobel Prize winners among its alumni, for refusing his administration's request to subject enrollment and hiring processes to oversight, based on accusations that it is an "extreme leftist institution hostile to antisemitism" and engaged in "woke ideology," which he continuously criticizes sharply.
In a letter addressed by US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to the "Ivy League," which includes eight of the country's most famous universities, she stated "effective immediately, the license granted for the foreign students and visitors exchange program at Harvard University has been revoked," referring to the main system that allows foreign students to study in the United States.
Last month, Trump threatened to stop the university from enrolling foreign students if it did not agree to the administration's request for political oversight.
Noem wrote in her letter, "As I explained to you in my letter in April, the enrollment of foreign students is a privilege."
The Secretary emphasized that "all universities must comply with the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, including the reporting requirements under the students and visitors program regulations, to retain this privilege."
She continued, "As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security with relevant information, and keeping an unsafe campus environment hostile to Jewish students and encouraging pro-Hamas tendencies and implementing racist (diversity, equality, and inclusion) policies, you have lost this privilege."
Foreign students comprised more than 27% of those enrolled at Harvard in the academic year 2024-2025, according to university data.
The university was not immediately available for comment on the decision.
