Washington
\nHarvard University sued the Trump administration on Friday over its decision to revoke the Ivy League school\u2019s ability to enroll foreign students, ratcheting up White House efforts to conform practices in academia to President Donald Trump\u2019s policies.
\nIn a complaint filed in Boston federal court, Harvard called the revocation a \u201cblatant violation\u201d of the US Constitution and other federal laws, and had an \u201cimmediate and devastating effect\u201d on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
\n\u201cWith the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard\u2019s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,\u201d Harvard said.
\n\u201cWithout its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,\u201d the 389-year-old school added.
\nHarvard asked a federal judge to block the revocation, citing \u201cthe immediate and irreparable harm inflicted by this lawless action.\u201d The case was assigned to US District Judge Allison Burroughs.
\nWhite House spokesperson Abigail Jackson dismissed the lawsuit.
\n\u201cIf only Harvard cared this much about ending the scourge of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators on their campus they wouldn\u2019t be in this situation to begin with,\u201d Jackson said.
\n\u201cHarvard should spend their time and resources on creating a safe campus environment instead of filing frivolous lawsuits,\u201d she added.
\nThe termination of Harvard\u2019s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, effective with the 2025-2026 academic year, was announced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
\nShe said the termination was justified because of Harvard\u2019s \u201cfostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.\u201d
\nHarvard defends \u2018refusal to surrender\u2019
\nIn a letter to the Harvard community, the school\u2019s president Alan Garber condemned the administration\u2019s actions.
\n\u201cThe revocation continues a series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government\u2019s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body,\u201d Garber wrote.
\nHarvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, equal to 27% of total enrollment.
\nIn its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown \u201ccountless\u201d academic programs, clinics, courses and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation.
\nThe revocation follows Noem\u2019s demand on April 16 for a large trove of information from Harvard about student visa holders.
\nIn a letter to Harvard, which was attached to the complaint, Noem said the information was needed because the university had \u201ccreated a hostile learning environment for Jewish students due to Harvard\u2019s failure to condemn antisemitism.\u201d
\nOn Thursday, Noem said Harvard could restore its certification by turning over within 72 hours a raft of records about international students, including video or audio of their protest activity in the past five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Harvard University sued the Trump administration on Friday over its decision to revoke the Ivy League school\u2019s ability to enroll foreign students, ratcheting up White House efforts to conform practices in academia to President Donald Trump\u2019s policies. In a complaint filed in Boston federal court, Harvard called the revocation a \u201cblatant violation\u201d of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-480415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n