WASHINGTON: The US State Department ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters on Friday (May 30), in a move that significantly expands President Donald Trump’s crackdown against the academic institution.
In a cable dated May 30 and sent to all US diplomatic and consular posts, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed the immediate start of “additional vetting of any non-immigrant visa applicant seeking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose”.
Such applicants include but are not limited to prospective students, students, faculty, employees, contractors, guest speakers, and tourists, the cable said.
The word “any” in the cable text is written in bold format and underlined.
Harvard University failed to maintain “a campus environment free from violence and anti-Semitism”, the cable said, and that the enhanced vetting measures were aimed at helping consular officers identify visa applicants “with histories of anti-Semitic harassment and violence”.
While the US has previously required additional vetting of visa applicants from particular countries, applying such procedures against Harvard appears to be an unprecedented use of the visa process against a university that has fallen out of favour with the administration.
The additional measures for Harvard-linked applicants were first reported by Fox News, but the cable itself has not been previously reported.
The State Department does not comment on its internal documents or communications, a department spokesperson said in an email when asked about the cable.
The Trump administration has launched a multifront attack on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, freezing billions of dollars in grants and other funding, proposing to end its tax-exempt status and opening an investigation into whether it discriminated against white, Asian, male or straight employees or job applicants.
