The Trump administration indicated on Thursday that it could reconsider its initial plans to immediately terminate Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students, opting instead to follow a more extended administrative route.
The Department of Homeland Security, as noted in a court document, issued a notice of intent to Harvard on Wednesday, aiming to retract the university’s certification under the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which is necessary for enrolling non-U.S. students.
Harvard has refuted accusations from the Trump administration claiming alleged discrimination against conservatives, the promotion of antisemitism on campus, and collaboration with the Chinese Communist Party.
It has 30 days to respond to the notice.
The notice came ahead of a scheduled hearing before U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston over whether to extend a temporary order blocking U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from revoking the Ivy League school’s right to host international students.
The hearing is expected to kick off at 10:30 a.m.
Harvard has said losing that right would affect about one quarter of its student body and devastate the school.
Neither Harvard nor DHS immediately responded to requests for comment.
President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be backing down in its legal fight against Harvard University
Harvard University will have 30 days to challenge the Trump administration’s foreign students ban
Harvard had argued that the revocation violated its free speech and due process rights under the U.S. Constitution as well as the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs agency actions.
Its lawyers said DHS regulations required providing at least 30 days to challenge the agency’s allegations, and give Harvard an opportunity to pursue an administrative appeal.
The revocation announced on May 22 was an escalation of the Trump administration’s attack on Harvard.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university’s lawyers argued the agency’s action was part of an ‘unprecedented and retaliatory attack on academic freedom at Harvard,’ which is pursuing a separate lawsuit challenging the administration’s decision to terminate nearly $3 billion in federal research funding.
Harvard argues the Trump administration is retaliating against it for refusing to cede to its demands to control the school’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.
The case before Burroughs, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, was filed after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revoked the school’s SEVP certification.
In announcing the decision, Noem, without providing evidence, accused the university of ‘fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.’
In a letter that day, she accused the school of refusing to comply with wide-ranging requests for information on its student visa holders, including about any activity they engaged in that was illegal or violent or that would subject them to discipline.
An attendee at Harvard University’s commencement on Thursday wears a sticker that reads ‘without our international students, Harvard is not Harvard’
‘As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enroll foreign students, and it is also a privilege to employ aliens on campus,’ she said.
Harvard said the decision was ‘devastating’ for the school and its student body. The university, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest, enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, about 27% of its total enrollment.
The department’s move would prevent Harvard from enrolling new international students and require existing ones to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Harvard University should have a 15 percent cap on the number of non-U.S. students it admits.
‘Harvard has got to behave themselves,’ he said.
