Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students threatened by Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security is threatening to revoke Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students and has canceled grants totaling more than $2.7 million.
The latest action from the Trump administration against Harvard comes on the heels of a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze because the university rejected a list of demands.
Letter to Harvard
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is now demanding detailed records on Harvard's foreign student visa holders' "illegal and violent" activities, or the university will lose its' Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. In a letter to the university, Noem demanded the records by April 30.
The DHS said, "if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students."
"Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism - driven by its spineless leadership - fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security," Noem said in a statement Wednesday night. "With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard's position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars."
There are 6,793 international students enrolled at Harvard this year, according to school data.
A letter sent to Harvard last week outlined a series of conditions the university needed to meet to maintain a "financial relationship" with the federal government.
Harvard president Alan Garber responded on Monday saying, "The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."
The demands from the Trump administration included an immediate end to diversity, equity and inclusion policies and discipline for students who violated school policies when a pro-Palestinian tent encampment went up on Harvard Yard.
A Harvard spokesperson told CBS News the university is aware of Secretary Noem's letter.
"Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. We continue to stand by that statement. We will continue to comply with the law and expect the Administration to do the same," the university said.
Some Harvard grants canceled
The DHS said the grants being canceled were the $800,303 Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention grant and the $1,934,902 Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement grant.
President Trump has also suggested that the Ivy League school should lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a political entity.
