The Harvard University is taking legal action because it is no longer allowed to admit foreign students by the American president Donald Trump. The university calls the decision of Trump’s government “a clear violation of the American constitution.”
Harvard received a letter from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on Thursday stating that it is no longer allowed to accept foreign students with immediate effect. According to Noem, the government holds Harvard responsible for “promoting violence and anti-Semitism on campus, and conspiring with the Chinese Communist Party.” The minister provided no evidence for these accusations.
The university said in an initial response that the measure was “unconstitutional” and that it would challenge it in court. Harvard filed the charges Friday in court in Boston. In it, she accuses the Trump administration of violating the American constitution and national legislation.
“This is another retaliation by the government because Harvard is using its constitutional right to counter undue interference,” the university said. “The government has no right to make demands on how Harvard is governed, what curriculum is offered and how students and staff should think.”
Harvard states that the decision has a “direct and devastating effect” on the university. Approximately 7,000 people from outside the United States are affiliated with Harvard. Among them are almost 6,800 students, about a quarter of the total student population. “Without international students, Harvard is no longer Harvard,” said the 389-year-old university.
Due to the government’s measure, Harvard cannot accept new foreign students in the coming academic year. Foreign students who are in the US with an academic visa risk losing that status. They may then have to change universities.