The US State Department has opened an investigation into Harvard University’s eligibility as a sponsor in the US exchange visitor program, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday, as the Trump administration takes aim at the country’s oldest and richest university.

Harvard has become a central focus of the administration’s broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at US universities, which President Donald Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and “radical left” ideologies.

“To maintain their privilege to sponsor exchange visitors, sponsors must comply with all regulations, including conducting their programs in a manner that does not undermine the foreign policy objectives or compromise the national security interests of the United States,” Rubio said.

“The investigation will ensure that State Department programs do not run contrary to our nation’s interests,” he added. He provided no explanation of why the probe had been opened.

Harvard condemned the investigation.

“This investigation is yet another retaliatory step taken by the administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights,” a spokesperson for Harvard said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The university is committed to continuing to comply with the applicable regulations and would support its international community as students apply for US visas and travel to campus this fall, the spokesperson said.

The State Department’s exchange visitor program grants non-immigrant visas to approved individuals, including students, teachers, physicians and others, to participate in exchange visitor programs in the US. The State Department issued about 349,000 such visas in fiscal year 2023.

Among the earliest actions the administration took against Harvard was the cancellation of hundreds of grants awarded to researchers on the grounds that the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus.

The Trump administration has since sought to bar international students from attending Harvard; threatened Harvard’s accreditation status; and opened the door to cutting off more funds by finding it violated federal civil rights law.

The Department of Education separately on Wednesday said it opened national origin discrimination investigations into the University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, the University of Miami, the University of Michigan and Western Michigan University.

The investigations will determine if the universities are granting scholarships that are only for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or “undocumented” students, “in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s prohibition against national origin discrimination, according to the statement.

The moves come as the Trump administration has pursued wide-ranging efforts to fulfill the president’s hardline immigration agenda.

The administration’s effort also comes in the wake of widespread anti-Israel — and in some cases antisemitic — protests on campuses across the US that saw frequent expressions of support for Hamas and its October 7, 2023, attack, as well as violations of school rules and local laws. It also echoes decades of criticism by conservatives who point to a lack of “viewpoint diversity” at colleges and universities.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.