Trump Administration blocks Harvard from enrolling international students

robinlewistells2005oxn

Transcript

00:00Escalation this afternoon in the Trump administration's war against Harvard University.

00:05The New York Times is now reporting that the White House halted Harvard University's ability

00:09to admit international students after Harvard refused to turn over detailed records about

00:14its student body.

00:16The New York Times writes this, quote, the administration notified Harvard about the

00:20decision after a back and forth in recent days over the legality of a sprawling records

00:25request as part of the Department of Homeland Security's investigation.

00:29That's according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations.

00:33For international students already enrolled at Harvard University, this marks a threat

00:38to their ability to study in the United States at all.

00:41In a release from the Department of Homeland Security, DHS Secretary Christine Noem writes

00:46this, quote, existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status.

00:52It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students.

00:56Harvard had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing.

00:59It refused.

01:00They have lost their student and exchange visitor program certification as a result of their

01:05failure to adhere to the law.

01:07Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country,

01:12end quote.

01:13Harvard responding in a statement, quote, the government's action is unlawful.

01:17This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country and

01:23undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.

01:26Joining our coverage is New York Times investigative reporter Mike Schmidt, whose byline is on that

01:30reporting we read from.

01:32Mike, let me start with Harvard's response.

01:35Is any of this legal?

01:37Well, we don't know.

01:40Harvard's going to have to go to court to fight this.

01:43And it's going to open up a whole other legal front in their battle with the administration.

01:47And it underscores a, you know, something that officials at Harvard have come to appreciate

01:55and understand that the school is in a highly, is in a crisis.

02:00The school is truly in a crisis because they have lost a major amount of their funding from

02:05the federal government.

02:06And even if they succeed in court in getting that funding back, the administration can still

02:12use or at least try to use the levers of the federal government against them to try to harm

02:19them as they have done here today.

02:22And maybe they're able to go to court and to get some sort of resolution about this.

02:26But if you're an international student at Harvard today, you got a clear message from

02:30the Department of Homeland Security, which was either transfer or leave the country.

02:35And what's remarkable about all of this is that about 25, a little bit more than 25 percent

02:42of all the students at Harvard are international students.

02:47So that means a quarter of the students for the academic year starting in the end of August,

02:53the beginning of September, may not be at Harvard because of this.

02:58Or at least today, their status about whether they can go to school is in question.

03:03And not only is that obviously a big issue for those students, those students who are just

03:09trying to make their way through college or postgraduate studies, but it's a big question

03:14for Harvard's bottom line because of the amount of money that these students pay to the school.

03:21So Harvard, this is just another front that Harvard faces in its fight with the administration.

03:26The fight with Harvard seems so deeply personal and clear retribution for fighting and not

03:34coming in and doing what you described as a true social deal that the law firms went in

03:38and did that Trump and his lawyer Boris Epstein hammered out.

03:43I mean, what is it that makes this stop?

03:49I don't know.

03:50The thing about Harvard that you have to understand is that it's different than the law firms.

03:56The law firms who wanted to fight went to court and quickly got judges to give them injunctions,

04:03restraining orders, temporary restraining orders, to stop the executive orders.

04:07And those law firms, as much as we can tell, were able to continue on with their work.

04:13The difference about Harvard is that half of their research budget is tied to money from

04:20the federal government.

04:22So that in and of itself created a huge question about where is that research money going to

04:29come from, not just for this year, but in future years.

04:33And research is something that researchers would like some certainty about.

04:36They would not like to be thinking, oh, where is my money going to be in a year or two for

04:41this long, you know, long, long term study into things like cancer.

04:47Things like cancer.

04:49I want to ask you where all of these, a lot of them are scientists.

04:53A lot of them are working on research projects into things like cancer.

05:11I don't know, because like cancer, I don't know, I don't know.

05:13I want to ask you where there are three and today.

05:21And there are three and a lot of them on research websites.

05:23And there's now less than five years.

05:24But They are better off than 15 years.

05:24And the research conditions , and they are moreикеikan and bacteria.

05:26They are terrible.

05:27And many others arebagoted.

05:28And there's a lot of them.

05:29In myzier, you know, that point the moment looks like a reset was ec Beast's action.

05:32So I should have to control this video.

05:34I can understand everything I professors who were constantly thinking about.

05:36I mean, it all should be a plan for their work in an observation.

05:38So they actually give an opportunity.

05:39So ladies, if you guys, you guys mess in a corner or something like this,

Category

Transcript

Recommended