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The Trump administration on Thursday stripped Harvard University of its authorization to enroll foreign students, escalating a confrontation between the federal government and one of the nation's most prestigious universities.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the revocation of Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification in a letter to the Ivy League institution. The SEVIS program serves as the primary mechanism through which international students obtain permission to study in the United States.
"Effective immediately, Harvard University's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked," Noem wrote in the letter, which she later shared on social media platform X.
Noem said the administration was holding Harvard accountable for "fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus."
"It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments," Noem wrote. "Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing. It refused."
The move represents the latest action in a broader campaign by the Trump administration against Harvard's federal funding. Earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced it would terminate $60 million in federal grants to the university. The administration has also frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contracts with Harvard.
Harvard has responded with legal action, filing a lawsuit against the administration. The university alleges the funding freeze violates First Amendment protections and federal law that prohibits presidential interference in Internal Revenue Service audits or investigations.
In response to the financial pressure, Harvard President Alan Garber announced last week that the university would allocate $250 million of its own funds to continue supporting research operations.
The confrontation with Harvard is part of a wider Trump administration effort targeting universities over campus protests supporting Palestine and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The administration has threatened to freeze federal funding for multiple institutions of higher education.
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