Voldemort v Harvard (Intl student edition)

Harvard has brought a toothbrush to a knife fight. The Dark Lord will fillet these Ivy League dilettantes and serve them with a nice Chianti.

Trump Administration Blocks Harvard From Enrolling Foreign Students

Move is latest in government’s growing pressure campaign against Ivy League school

By Douglas Belkin, Sara Randazzo and Michelle Hackman, WSJ

Updated May 22, 2025 7:47 pm ET

• The Trump admininstration revokes Harvard’s authorization to enroll foreign students, citing campus safety concerns.

• Harvard, with 7,000 international students, faces financial strain due to reliance on foreign tuition.

• Harvard has been battling the administration since March over antisemitism concerns and federal funding.

The Trump administration is yanking Harvard University’s authorization to enroll foreign students, a major escalation and financial blow in the government’s pressure campaign against the nation’s most prominent university.

Harvard enrolls about 7,000 international students—more than 25% of the student body—and like many U.S. universities it relies on their tuition payments, which are often full-fee. The Trump administration has already pulled billions of dollars in federal research funding from the school and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status, citing concerns about antisemitism and DEI.

“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,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in announcing the decision.

The department said Harvard had failed to create a safe campus environment for students, especially Jewish ones, and alleged that many “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” on campus were foreign students.

A Harvard spokesman called the government’s move unlawful and said the school is committed to maintaining its ability to host international students. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission,” he said.

International students were left scrambling.

For Austrian Harvard student Karl Molden, getting accepted into the Ivy League school was the best day of his life. Now, as he finishes his second year studying government, he said, “it feels like it’s falling apart.” He’d been looking forward to courses in the fall including ancient Greek and American society but is now making contingency plans.

In an interview with WSJ Editor in Chief Emma Tucker, Harvard President Alan Garber explains why he’s taken up the fight—and where he agrees with Trump. Photo: Bloomberg/Adam Falk

Harvard has been locked in a battle with the Trump administration since late March, when the government said it was reviewing nearly $9 billion in federal funding over antisemitism concerns. Harvard has filed a federal lawsuit against the government, arguing the administration has violated the university’s constitutional rights as well as due process.

The government threatened to bar international students in April after Harvard refused to comply with demands made by the administration, including that the university—under federal oversight—“audit” the viewpoints of faculty, students and staff.

U.S. universities enrolled more than 1.1 million international students in the 2023-2024 school year, more than half from India and China, federal data shows.

Ted Mitchell—the president of the American Council on Education, the main lobbying group for universities—said the administration’s action against Harvard is highly unusual and unlikely to withstand legal scrutiny.

In addition to adding to the bottom line of universities through their full-freight tuition, Mitchell said, international students broaden the perspectives on campus, contribute to the economic growth and add to the scientific progress of the U.S.—and bring U.S. values back to home countries. “It’s fair to say higher education has been the most powerful part of our soft diplomatic power in the world for decades,” Mitchell said.

The U.S. has long dominated international enrollment, but American market share has declined over the last decade. Other countries have increased the capacity of their universities and quality of their programs.

Recent actions taken by the White House to deport some international students have further chilled enthusiasm for U.S. schools, said Fanta Aw, the executive director of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, an international education association.

“It is cruel the way the Trump administration is dehumanizing us,” said Leo Gerdén, a 22-year-old Harvard government and economics student from Sweden who is graduating next week. “They’re essentially turning international students into poker chips in a battle between Harvard and the White House.”

Gerdén said the promise of a broad liberal arts education drew him to the U.S. Now, he says, international students weighing offers to U.S. universities are likely hesitant. Next year, he will be pursuing a master’s in global affairs in China.

Write to Douglas Belkin at Doug.Belkin@wsj.com, Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com and Michelle Hackman at michelle.hackman@wsj.com