Harvard has long been the world's top college. Trump's sanction puts its
allure at risk
[May 24, 2025]
By COLLIN BINKLEY and MICHAEL CASEY
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — For students around the world, an acceptance
letter to Harvard University has represented the pinnacle of
achievement, offering a spot among the elite at a campus that produces
Nobel Prize winners, captains of industry and global leaders.
That allure is now in jeopardy. In its intensifying fight with the White
House, Harvard was dealt its heaviest blow yet on Thursday, when the
government blocked the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign
students. The move threatens to undermine Harvard’s stature, revenue and
appeal among top scholars globally.
Even more than the government’s $2.6 billion in research cuts, the
administration's action represents an existential threat for Harvard.
The school summed it up in a lawsuit seeking to block the action:
“Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”
Within hours of the decision, the consequences started becoming clear.
Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth, who just finished her first year in a
Harvard graduate program, is waiting to find out if she can return next
year, the palace said. The Chinese government publicly questioned
whether Harvard’s international standing will endure.
“The relevant actions by the U.S. side will only damage its own image
and international credibility,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson
Mao Ning said at a briefing in Beijing.
A federal judge on Friday blocked the administration’s decision as the
lawsuit plays out, but the order is only temporary.
Students say their hopes and dreams are at stake
On the Harvard campus, international students said they were stunned,
confused and deeply concerned about what the government's action means
for their degrees, future plans and legal status in the United States.
Walid Akef, a Harvard graduate student in art history from Egypt, said
the Trump administration action would cost him “20 years of my life.”
“Coming to Harvard — I’m not exaggerating — I planned for it for 15
years," Akef said. He earned two master's degrees and learned multiple
languages before arriving at the university. He also worries what the
changes will mean for his family, since his wife is pregnant and will
soon be unable to travel.
“This is absolutely disastrous. I’m going to lose not just stability,
but I also lose my dreams and then lose, I don’t know, my beautiful
life.”
Akef is cautiously optimistic that Harvard "will take care of this,” but
he is also considering other options as U.S. policy becomes increasingly
inhospitable to foreign students.
A graduating law student from Asia said he had planned to stay in the
United States and find work, “but not anymore.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do, but my future doesn’t appear to be here,”
said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of
retaliation.
Changes could erase a quarter of the student body
With a $53 billion endowment, Harvard can weather federal funding losses
that would cripple other institutions. But this new sanction strikes at
the heart of its campus.
Already, the change is causing disarray, as thousands of students
consider whether to transfer or risk being in the country illegally. It
could wipe out a quarter of the university’s student body, while halving
some of its graduate schools and threatening students who work as
researchers and teaching assistants. Some sports teams would be left
nearly empty.
For many, it has been a time of panicked calls home and huddles with
fellow international students. For Kat, a data science student from
China, the news comes as she prepares to graduate. Foreigners set to
receive degrees from Harvard next week can still do so.
“My biggest fear is whether I would get deported immediately" after
graduation, Kat said. She spoke on the condition that she be identified
only by her first name out of concern about retaliation. "We’re not sure
about our status.”
If the government’s action stands, Harvard would be banned from
admitting new international students for at least two school years. Even
if it regains its place as a global magnet, top students may shy away
for fear of future government reprisals, the school said in its lawsuit.
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Aleksandra Conevska, a Canadian graduate student studying climate
change, speaks about the Trump administration's decision to revoke
the school's ability to enroll international students on the Harvard
University campus in Cambridge, Mass., on Friday, May 23, 2025. (AP
Photo/Michael Casey)
The university enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, near Boston. Roughly 30% of those come from
India and China.
Asked if he was considering restrictions on other universities,
President Donald Trump said Friday: “We’re taking a look at a lot of
things.”
“Harvard’s going to have to change its ways. So are some others,” the
president told reporters in the Oval Office. “We don’t want
troublemakers here” from other countries.
A time to weigh other opportunities
In its court filing, Harvard listed some of its most notable alumni who
enrolled as foreign students. The list includes Benazir Bhutto, the
former prime minister of Pakistan; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the former
president of Liberia; Empress Masako of Japan; and many leaders of major
corporations.
Many of the world's top students spend years preparing for their college
applications, sometimes working with admissions consultants such as
Crimson Education, a company named after Harvard's school color. Crimson
clients recently admitted to Harvard were shocked by the government's
action, said Jamie Beaton, a Harvard alumnus from New Zealand who
founded the company. But rather than looking for other options, many
students quickly shifted to finding a way forward with Harvard, he said.
Still, some current students and those bound for the university in the
fall were weighing other opportunities. Two universities in Hong Kong on
Friday extended invites to affected students.
“It feels like my world has exploded,” said Fang, a Chinese student who
was accepted to Harvard for a master’s program. She also spoke on the
condition that only her first name be used out of fear that she could be
targeted.
Her student visa was approved just this week. “If America becomes a
country that doesn’t welcome me, I don’t want to go there.”
The recent developments forced Aleksandra Conevska, a Canadian graduate
student researching climate change, to cancel her summer research and
briefly look for jobs in Canada. But her thinking has since shifted, and
she says she plans to remain at Harvard.
“I’ve already invested in this country, and I’m not going to give in,"
she said.
The U.S. government's action against Harvard has dominated news in
countries around the world, said Mike Henniger, president and CEO of
Illume Student Advisory Services, which helps colleges in the U.S.,
Canada and Europe recruit international students. He is traveling in
Japan and awoke to the news Friday with dozens of emails from
colleagues.
The reactions from the international community, he said, were
incredulous: “'Unbelievable!’ ‘Oh My God!’ ‘Unreal!’"
For incoming freshmen who just got accepted to Harvard — and already
committed — the timing could not be worse, but they are such strong
students that any top university would want to offer them a spot, he
said.
“The bigger story is the students around the country that aren’t a
Harvard student, the students that scraped by to get into a state
university and are thinking: ‘Are we next?’” he said. "The Harvard kids
are going to be OK. It’s more about the damage to the American education
brand. The view of the U.S. being a less welcoming place for
international students.”
___
Binkley reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Annie Ma and
Fu Ting in Washington, Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco and Bianca
Vázquez Toness in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and researcher Shihuan Chen
in Beijing, also contributed to this report.
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