On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced decisive action to protect the nation from the great threat of… *squints* international scholars and students at Harvard University. Noem declared that Harvard would be stripped of its certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, through which Harvard is able to enroll its sizable population of over 7,000 visa holders. (Over a quarter—27%—of Harvard’s student body comprises international students.)
A court quickly blocked Noem’s attempt to ban international students, at least until it issues a permanent ruling on Harvard’s ongoing lawsuit against the Trump administration. But… it certainly says a lot how fast that moved!
Noem’s attempts to ban international students from Harvard aren’t entirely surprising—last month, Noem first made the threat, claiming in an unhinged statement that “Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism… fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security.” Noem and the Trump administration demanded that the university turn over the private student records and allow the administration free rein to shape its curriculum and eliminate all student protests of Israel’s genocide in Gaza from campus.
Harvard refused, and now, Noem and the administration are trying to ban the school from enrolling international students. And, as Noem is wont to do, she released yet another even more confounding statement announcing this, inexplicably equating Harvard with the Chinese Communist Party. “This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” she said. Later, Noem stopped by Fox News, dolled up as she so often is to spew racist bullshit on camera, and declared, “This should be a warning to every other university to get your act together,” further threatening other universities that don’t fully hand over the reins to the Trump administration.
“Get your act together because we are coming to make sure that these programs, that you are facilitating an environment where students can learn, where they are safe and that they are not discriminated against based on their race or religion,” Noem continued. Ironically, the administration itself is overwhelmingly guilty of discriminating against students, specifically for their advocacy against genocide. In recent months, several such students have been detained and, in some cases, held for weeks by ICE—solely for their nonviolent protests against genocide, or, in the case of Turkish Fulbright scholar Rumeysa Ozturk, for writing an op-ed—all at the behest of this administration.
“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a statement responding to Noem’s actions. “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.”
In April, Noem and the Trump administration broadly, baselessly accused Harvard of antisemitism and issued a series of demands for the university, including the incredibly bizarre demand that Harvard hire an “external party” approved by the administration to “audit” students and faculty for “viewpoint diversity.” The administration further threatened to abolish entire departments deemed not in compliance. Harvard refused, so the administration retaliated by freezing more than $2.2 billion in federal funding and even threatening to strip the university of its tax-exempt status. Noem then escalated the conflict by terminating a $2.7 million DHS grant and went so far as to accuse the elite university of being a terrorist cell in a bonkers letter. “No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber said at the time. A spokesperson for the university maintained that despite Noem’s threats, Harvard “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
Alas, when Fox News asked Noem about the inevitability of Harvard challenging her actions in court, she said, “Tell them to bring it.” Just so we’re clear: The judge weighing Harvard’s suit against the administration is Obama appointee Allison Burroughs. The administration has already had to back down from previous attempts to vacate student visas en masse after a slate of court rulings in schools’ favor. Harvard received relief from Noem’s attempted ban within hours. So, I’m not entirely sure where Noem got her smug confidence from, but it seems fairly unfounded.
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