‘Clinging to hope’: Fear and anger as Harvard students slam latest Trump visa ban
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Harvard has been at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity”.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – President Donald Trump’s late-night proclamation blocking Harvard’s new international students has sparked fear and anger among existing students left in limbo amid the escalating showdown between the US leader and their university.
Mr Alfred Williamson, a Welsh-Danish physics and government student in his second year at Harvard, said he was “clinging on to the hope that Harvard will win this fight and that I will get to return next semester”.
Harvard had won a reprieve from a judge who paused an earlier bid by Mr Trump to revoke the university’s ability to sponsor the school’s large international student population – 27 per cent of the total body.
“Then the Trump administration does whatever it can to crush those dreams,” Mr Williamson, 20, told AFP of Mr Trump’s proclamation on June 5 alleging that “Harvard’s conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers” and also threatening existing international students with visa cancellations.
“This represents another authoritarian instance of executive overreach, which punishes international students for attending a university that refuses to bow down to the administration,” said Mr Williamson, who is holidaying outside the United States.
He said President Trump is “targeting Harvard because it has the integrity to stand up to his unlawful and un-American demands”.
Harvard has been at the forefront of Mr Trump’s campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity”.
The government already cut around US$3.2 billion (S$4.1 billion) of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the institution at Cambridge, Massachusetts, from any future federal funding while threatening its tax-exempt status.
‘Campaign of retaliation’
On June 5, Harvard added the latest measure to legal action against the Trump administration,
A graduate student from India at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, who declined to be named, said: “I just read this latest news. We have not received anything from Harvard yet, but this isn’t surprising – albeit concerning.”
The student added: “I knew it was going to be a long summer.”
One international student, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, raised the plight of international students who had moved their lives to Harvard, leaving for the summer break, and now faced uncertainty following Mr Trump’s order.
“What about students who went home for the summer? There’s a risk they won’t be able to come back,” said the student, who is currently seeking to renew a visa.
Legal experts said Harvard would need to explore a range of options to protect its foreign students, alongside the legal action.
“(It) needs to act quickly on an administrative level to explore options for its international student population that could possibly include programme deferrals, transitions to online instruction, or other alternatives to ensure academic continuity,” said attorney Khensani Mathebula, who works with the Laura Devine Immigration firm.
“Staying informed and proactive is essential in protecting (students’) academic and immigration status.”
Ms Olivia Data, a US Harvard student going into her fourth year who is friends with many international students, said “this news is heartbreaking and scary”.
“Our friends and classmates are being used as collateral in a dictator’s grab for power, and none of us knows where it will end or whether our university can protect its students in our current political system,” she said. AFP
