Judge blocks Trump bid to bar Harvard from admitting international students over antisemitism concerns
The order, which would have also affected Jewish and Israeli students, came as the school celebrated commencement
Students walk by the Harvard Yard gate in Cambridge, MA, Sep. 16, 2021. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(JTA) — Last week the Trump administration, citing its desire to curb campus antisemitism, escalated its war with Harvard University by barring the school from admitting any international students.
Now a federal judge has blocked the effort, clearing the way for Harvard to maintain its international student body — including its Israeli population as well as other Jewish international students.
On Thursday, Judge Allison Burroughs indefinitely extended a temporary restraining order she placed on the Trump administration last week. The ruling follows a lawsuit Harvard filed against the president.
Burroughs said while order remains in effect, the parties must work out an agreement to keep student visas in place.
“I want to maintain the status quo,” the judge said from the bench. according to CNN.
In revoking Harvard’s student visa program last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement she was “holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.”
Ahead of Thursday’s ruling, Noem announced a 30-day reprieve before implementing the ban on international students at Harvard — though Burroughs said she was concerned the administration was moving forward with its plans anyway.
Israeli students at Harvard have said the ban would also block them from enrolling. It came as the Trump administration has waged a broad battle with the school, ostensibly over how it has responded to antisemitism.
Earlier this week, the administration zeroed out all federal funding to the university. Beyond Harvard, Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week issued a broader order halting all student visa interviews; he has recently indicated he is focusing on revoking visas for students from China.
The latest ruling came as Harvard marked commencement at the end of a tumultuous year. Last year, the school’s commencement saw a mass pro-Palestinian walkout. This time speaker Abraham Verghese, a bestselling author, doctor and Stanford professor who is an Ethiopian immigrant, praised the school for opposing what he called Trump’s “cascade of draconian government measures.”
In a separate speech at a commencement event on Wednesday, NBA hall-of-famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said Trump’s administration was trying to “threaten Harvard to give up their academic freedom and destroy campus speech.”
Multiple speakers celebrated the school’s president, Alan Garber, who is Jewish, and who was also warmly applauded by students. In his own remarks, he celebrated students “from down the street, across the country and around the world … just as it should be.”
At least one pro-Palestinian protest took place at the university Thursday, as two people unfurled a banner reading “There Are No Universities Left in Gaza,” while another banner urged Harvard to divest from “genocide in Gaza.” A campus officer quickly confiscated the banners, according to Harvard’s student newspaper.
