The Trump administration has closed the path for foreign students to enter Harvard University, one of the most famous and prestigious universities in the world. In a statement, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristy Noem said that the Student and Visitor Exchange Program certification required for Harvard University to admit foreign students has been revoked for this year and next year. Noem’s statement accused Harvard of carrying out acts of inciting hatred against Jews in collaboration with the ruling Communist Party in China. Harvard said it will stand against this illegal measure taken by the federal government, which violates the rights of thousands of students studying at the university.
This measure was taken after Harvard refused to provide certain personal information about some of its foreign students. Harvard University had given 6,800 foreign students the opportunity to study in the past academic year and the year before. This represents 27 percent of the students studying there. The majority of these are Chinese students. Currently, more than 1,000 Chinese students are studying at Harvard. The next highest numbers are from Canada, India, South Korea, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Singapore, and Japan, according to Harvard’s statistics.
In a letter Noem sent to Harvard, she also said that if the information requested by the Department of Homeland Security is provided within the next 72 hours, the decision to revoke the permission will be reversed. In his second term as President of the United States, Trump has been taking strong measures against America’s main universities. In this regard, Trump has also accused Harvard of inciting hatred against Jews and giving jobs and opportunities to supporters of the opposition Democratic Party. Along with these allegations, the federal government has also stopped providing more than three billion dollars in financial aid to Harvard. Harvard has now filed this case in court.
