New York: Stung by the US government’s decision, Harvard University hit back on Friday by taking the Donald Trump administration to court for blocking enrolment of foreign students.
In a lawsuit filed on Friday in Boston federal court, Harvard’s management said the government’s action violates the First Amendment and will have an “immediate and devastating effect” for Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders.
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” the Ivy League institute said in its lawsuit.
Calling the ban unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s political demands, Harvard said it plans to seek a temporary restraining order to block the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from carrying out the ban on international students.
On Thursday, DHS announced the ban, accusing Harvard of creating an unsafe campus environment by allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus.
Harvard was also accused of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, with the Trump administration contending that the school had hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group even in 2024.
In an official intimation, DHS gave Harvard University the option of continuing to enroll foreign students if it meets six conditions within 72 hours.
Harvard University president Alan M Garber said in a post on X that the government’s action was a retaliation against “our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body.”
In a letter addressed to Members of the Harvard Community, Garber wrote: “It imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”
Harvard enrols around 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students, who come from over 100 countries.