President Donald Trump hinted of revoking other universities’ certification to host international students in response to a question about his move against Harvard.
Harvard University filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday in response to the Department of Homeland Security revoking the school’s certification to host international students. The Trump administration had stripped Harvard of its ability to enroll foreign students earlier Friday, accusing the school of failing to heed the law with respect to his anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion executive orders.
The Daily Signal asked the president whether he was considering similar action against other schools that fail to comply with his executive orders.
“Harvard is going to have to change its ways, and a couple of others,” he said.
“Billions of dollars has been paid to Harvard,” he told The Daily Signal. “How ridiculous is that? Billions, and they have $52 billion as an endowment. They have $52 billion, and this country is paying billions and billions of dollars, and then gives student loans, and they have to pay back the loans.”
A federal judge on Friday issued an injunction temporarily blocking the Trump administration’s latest action against Harvard, meaning that for now, foreign students can continue attending the university.
Currently, there are more than 6,700 international students studying at Harvard, making up about 27% of the Ivy League school’s student body, according to the university.
Harvard is losing its “Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law,” according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
The Department of Homeland Security operates the Student and Exchange Visitor Program to ensure foreign students are in the country legally.
Harvard President Alan Garber called the administration’s latest move part of a “series of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body.”