The Trump administration is ramping up its attack on Harvard University. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Wednesday that it would subpoena the university for information regarding its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), a program that certifies schools to enroll international students.
Since April, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has made sweeping demands that Harvard provide information on its over 10,000 foreign students in the name of combating antisemitism on the school's campus. In May, Noem attempted to terminate the university's SEVP—and put substantially more of the school's revenue at risk—for "insufficient[ly]" complying with her demands, despite Harvard's claims that it turned over the information requested by the DHS. But the move was quickly blocked by a U.S. district court judge, allowing international students to continue enrollment until litigation over the issue has been resolved.
"We tried to do things the easy way with Harvard. Now, through their refusal to cooperate, we have to do things the hard way," said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in response to the school's repeated refusal to comply with "past non-coercive requests to hand over the required information" voluntarily. "Harvard, like other universities, has allowed foreign students to abuse their visa privileges and advocate for violence and terrorism on campus," she continued. "If Harvard won't defend the interests of its students, then we will."
