United States President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to suspend US entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programmes at Harvard University, the White House said on Wednesday, amid an escalating dispute with the Ivy League institution.
The order also directs the US State Department to “consider revoking” existing academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students “who meet the Proclamation’s criteria.”
Last month, the State Department ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters.
Harvard argues the Trump administration is retaliating against it for refusing to accede to its demands to control the school’s governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students.
Wednesday’s two-page directive said Harvard has “demonstrated a history of concerning foreign ties and radicalism.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has “long warned that foreign adversaries take advantage of easy access to American higher education to steal information, exploit research and development and spread false information,” the proclamation said.
It said Harvard had seen a “drastic rise in crime in recent years while failing to discipline at least some categories of conduct violations on campus.”
The notice also accused the university of failing to provide sufficient information to the US Department of Homeland Security about foreign students’ “known illegal or dangerous activities.”
Accusing Harvard of “extensive entanglements with foreign adversaries,” the proclamation said Harvard received more than $150 million from China alone.” It said many agitators behind antisemitic incidents on campus were “found to be foreign students.”
The restrictions on new student visas at Harvard marked the latest Trump administration crackdown in a multifront attack on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.
It followed previous moves to freeze billions of dollars in grants and other funding, end the school’s tax-exempt status and to open an investigation into whether it discriminated against white, Asian, male or straight employees or job applicants.
Trump alleges top US universities are cradles of anti-American movements. Last month, his administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge.
