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“Thousands of foreign students at Harvard University were stuck in administrative limbo and looking for alternatives on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump's administration revoked Harvard's ability to enroll students from abroad. Later in the day, a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the move by the Trump administration.” Reuters
“Trump's administration plans to terminate the federal government's remaining contracts with Harvard University, according to a letter sent to federal agencies on Tuesday. The letter, from the U.S. General Services Administration, directs all federal agencies to review and potentially terminate or reallocate their contracts with Harvard, which an official valued at about $100 million… The government has already terminated nearly $3 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school.” Reuters
Here’s our previous coverage of attempts to freeze federal funding for Harvard. The Flip Side
The left is critical of the administration, arguing that blocking foreign students is illegal.
“[DHS Secretary Kristi] Noem’s action blatantly violates the law, not even paying lip service to it. Her letter didn’t even deign to claim that Harvard had broken any rules or regulations. Instead, the letter embraced the ‘we can do anything we want’ reasoning behind so many of Trump’s executive actions. It spoke of enrolling foreign students as a ‘privilege’ rather than what it is, namely, a legal right created by Congress…
“Chillingly, the letter stated that the Trump administration intended ‘to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities’ of its intent to ‘root out the evils of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism in society and campuses.’ The reference to rooting out anti-Americanism is literally the language of McCarthyism and the notorious House Un-American Activities Committee. That’s no coincidence. Trump’s assault on Harvard uses many of the same techniques used in the days of the Red Scare — and it has some of the same objectives.”
Noah Feldman, Bloomberg
“As with so many other Trump policies, the assault on universities is actually not popular. Even after years of journalists and some professors priming people to think that campus is controlled by woke commissars and ‘Marxist maniacs’… a clear majority of Americans disapprove of Trump’s approach to higher education. Conservatives have stoked resentment of ‘liberal eggheads’ for decades, but when their children get sick, they will still want to have access to the best medical schools.”
Jan-Werner Müller, The Guardian
“If the Trump administration expands its scorched-earth student visa strategy beyond Harvard, it won’t just be the liberal enclaves and snooty college towns that suffer… If international students stop coming to the US, it will be a catastrophe for American leadership in science and technology…
“World-class research universities are magnets for global talent. Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a worldwide center of medical breakthroughs because Harvard and its neighbor MIT attract some of the smartest people in the world, who often stay in the United States to found new companies and conduct research…
“If you or a loved one benefited from a new cancer treatment, there’s a good chance the person who saved your life came to America on the kind of student visa the Trump administration is trying to destroy… Even if the courts continue to block this move, it will be difficult for anyone to study there knowing they might be deported or imprisoned by a hostile regime.”
Kevin Carey, Vox
The right is divided.
The right is divided.
“The university seems likely to prevail on the law, but until courts settle the merits, thousands of students who have done nothing wrong will be in legal limbo. Some of them no doubt opposed the anti-Israel protests and may even hail from Israel. Why punish them?…
“This will be terribly damaging to America’s ability to attract talented young people who bring their enterprise and intellectual capital to the U.S. Non-citizens accounted for more than half of doctoral degrees in AI-related fields in 2022…
“Even if it’s modified, Ms. Noem’s order will echo around the world as a signal that the U.S. is no longer open to educate the world’s brightest young people. Foreign students will get the message and take their talents elsewhere. China’s politburo must be laughing at their good luck that their main adversary is hamstringing itself—first with tariffs that make its firms less competitive, and now with an assault on immigrant talent.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“Harvard will win this case. The Trump administration seems to believe that classifying something as a ‘privilege’ rather than [a] ‘right’ means that all statutory procedural requirements can be dispensed with. The federal courts will instruct them otherwise…
“It is also unwise for the administration to affirmatively assert, as it did here and has done on other occasions, that it is taking adverse actions in order to retaliate against an institution for constitutionally protected conduct…
“In its dealings with universities, as in many other respects, the Trump administration is a blunt instrument. It is going to lose a lot of lawsuits. But from the standpoint of Harvard (or Columbia, or whoever), there are many risks to being at odds with the federal government. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.”
John Hinderaker, Power Line Blog
“Harvard Divinity School named as class marshal for their graduation ceremony, a student who The Jerusalem Post reports ‘assaulted a Jewish classmate during an anti-Israel protest in October 2023.’ Another student involved in that assault ‘was awarded a $65,000 Harvard Law School fellowship to work at the Council on American-Islamic Relations.’ These schools just can’t help themselves…
“With decisions like that, they deserve to have their funds pulled… Harvard has only made the slightest of attempts to comply with the administration’s insistence that it stop violating civil rights law and crack down on the antisemitism Harvard has essentially admitted is plaguing the school.”
Jarrett Stepman, Daily Signal
A libertarian's take
“I do not know to what extent the courts will uphold Trump’s threats, but what I do understand are markets and incentives. I know that the federal government regulates most of society. I also know that federal government spending takes up about 23 percent of the economy, including a good deal on both science and education…
“If there is a war to the death, it is Harvard, even with its roughly $50 billion endowment, that will remain on the defensive and struggle to make it through. At some point, donors, top faculty, and top students will take their efforts elsewhere, even if they fully side with Harvard in this fight. The correct response is to conclude that the federal government, and the executive branch in particular, has far too much power.”
Tyler Cowen, Free Press
