“GOVERNMENT VENDETTA”
The government already cut around US$3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution from any future federal funding.
Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity”.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson earlier called Harvard “a hotbed of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators”, claims that the school has previously denied.
“Harvard’s behaviour has jeopardised the integrity of the entire US student and exchange visitor visa system and risks compromising national security. Now it must face the consequences of its actions,” Jackson said in a statement.
Trump has also singled out international students at Harvard, who accounted for 27 per cent of total enrollment in the 2024-2025 academic year and are a major source of income.
In its filing, Harvard acknowledged that Trump had the authority to bar an entire class of aliens if it was deemed to be in the public interest, but stressed that was not the case in this action.
“The president’s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the ‘interests of the United States’ but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,” it said.
Since returning to office, Trump has targeted elite US universities which he and his allies accuse of being hotbeds of anti-Semitism, liberal bias and “woke” ideology.
Trump’s education secretary also threatened on Wednesday to strip Columbia University of its accreditation.
The Republican has targeted the New York Ivy League institution for allegedly ignoring harassment of Jewish students, throwing all of its federal funding into doubt.
Unlike Harvard, several top institutions – including Columbia – have already bowed to far-reaching demands from the Trump administration.
