In a letter to the #Harvard community delivered Friday morning, Dr. Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, wrote, “We condemn this unlawful & unwarranted action,” adding that it “imperils the futures of thousands of #students & scholars across Harvard & serves as a warning to countless others at #colleges & #universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their #education & fulfill their dreams.”
#Trump #law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #AbuseOfPower
The lawsuit, which accused the #Trump admin of a “campaign of retribution” against the #university followed an announcement on Thurs that #Harvard’s Student & Exchange Visitor Program [#SEVP] certification was revoked, halting the university’s ability to enroll #InternationalStudents. The university indicated that it would also be filing a request for a temporary restraining order [#TRO] asking a judge to immediately block implementation of the admin action.
In the new lawsuit, the #university accused the #Trump admin of exerting “clear retaliation for #Harvard exercising its #FirstAmendment rights to control Harvard’s governance, #curriculum & the ‘ideology’ of its #faculty & #students.”
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, #InternationalStudents who contribute significantly to the university & its mission,” the lawsuit said. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”
The #Trump admin said #Harvard had not complied with a list of demands sent on April 16 that contained records of protest activity dating back 5 years, including videotapes of misconduct & records of disciplinary actions involving #InternationalStudents.
Harvard’s lawsuit said the #university had been working to comply with the April 16 request, & included a letter from the admin attacking the university for failure to condemn *antisemitism*.
Despite the “unprecedented nature & scope” of the demands, calling for information on each #StudentVisa holder, about 7,000 #students across #Harvard’s 13 schools, within 10 business days, Harvard had submitted the required information on April 30, the lawsuit said, & also complied with a follow-up request.
#Trump #InternationalStudents #law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
“Yet on May 22, #DHS deemed #Harvard’s response ‘insufficient,’ without explaining why or citing any #regulation with which Harvard failed to comply,” the lawsuit said. It references #Trump’s posts on Truth Social…as evidence of his #vendetta against Harvard.
The Trump admin has claimed its attacks on Harvard & other top private #universities are an effort to combat *antisemitism* & liberal biases on campus.
#law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
During his campaign, #Trump used the term “Marxist maniacs” to refer to the Ivy League.
After he was inaugurated, Trump’s admin has sought to use nearly every lever the federal government has at its disposal to force #schools, #Harvard especially, to bend to its will. There are now at least 8 investigations into Harvard spanning at least 6 federal agencies.
#InternationalStudents #law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
Separately, the #Trump admin had sought to use the federal government’s #international #student system as a way to remove foreign nationals from the country. #Immigration ofcls targeted a handful of pro-#Palestinian student activists, but also ended the #legal status of hundreds of #students, creating a general anxiety among #InternationalStudents at #colleges & #universities nationwide. (Most of those students have had their status restored, but several cases are still pending in court.)
At #Harvard, a conflict had been building for weeks, as the #Trump admin’s Joint Task Force to Combat *Antisemitism* criticized the university for anti-Israel bias. On April 11, the task force sent a letter demanding that Harvard comply with a list of demands that ranged from hiring an outside monitor to police the #ideology of #professors & #students to barring #InternationalStudents “hostile to American values.”
#law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #AbuseOfPower
Dr. Garber responded on April 15 with #Harvard’s first lawsuit, in which arguments are set for July.
And despite statements from both sides indicating a willingness to compromise, the attacks on Harvard have continued, emanating from a variety of federal agencies, with the #Trump admin freezing nearly $3 billion in contracts & #research #funding.
#law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #BrainDrain #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
At the same time, a proposal making its way through #Congress that would increase #taxes on #university #endowments could cost #Harvard an estimated $850 million a year.
The wider #academic community was shocked at Thursday’s move by the #Trump Admin. In a statement, Sally Kornbluth, president of the #MIT, called it a “grave moment.”
#InternationalStudents #law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #BrainDrain #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
“I write to you in profound disbelief,” Kornbluth wrote in a community email late Thurs. “The action the federal government took today to bar #Harvard from having #InternationalStudents is devastating for American excellence, openness, & ingenuity.”
Harvard enrolls about 6,800 #international #students, or about 27% of its student body.
#Trump #law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #BrainDrain #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
The #Trump admin edict ultimately affects both existing #InternationalStudents, who would need to find other schools to attend, & newly admitted #Harvard #students headed for the US in the fall.
The admin’s announcement on Thurs upends students’ lives, & would also be a financial blow to Harvard. Many of Harvard’s international students are enrolled in costly graduate programs, tuition paid by those students potentially generates millions for the #university.
[But more importantly it is a fascistic dictatorial attack on #education, #AcademicFreedom & the #FirstAmendment.]
In an interview on Thurs, a #Harvard student from #Ukraine, who asked not to be identified, said she feared losing her #visa not only because it will disrupt her education but because returning home, amid the #war w/ #Russia, is not an option. She is considering going to live w/relatives elsewhere in Europe.
#Trump #InternationalStudents #law #immigration #BrainDrain #AbuseOfPower
I’m guess this is not the *type* of #student #Trump was hoping to kick out.
Belgian princess left in doubt about her #Harvard future following Trump's foreign student ban
#InternationalStudents #law #immigration #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #BrainDrain #ExecutiveOverreach #AbuseOfPower
https://apnews.com/article/belgium-princess-trump-harvard-aeb47f0e69d97c91b44f5cc2bfa84e66
