Harvard students march after Trump seeks to cut remaining contracts

Straits Times

28-05-2025

The Trump administration's decision to terminate Harvard University's right to host foreign nationals has left nearly 6,800 international students in the US in limbo. PHOTO: REUTERS
UNITED STATES - Harvard students protested on May 27 after the US government said it intends to cancel all remaining financial contracts with the university, President Donald Trump's latest attempt to force the prestigious institution to submit to unprecedented oversight.
Hundreds of students gathered to oppose Mr Trump's widening offensive, including May 27's measures estimated to be worth US$100 million, against the university that has drawn his ire for refusing to give up control of curriculum, admissions and research.
'Trump = traitor' read one student placard, while the crowd chanted 'who belongs in class today, let them stay' in reference to Harvard's international students whose status Mr Trump has upended by summarily revoking the university's accreditation to the country's Student and Exchange Visitor program.
A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for May 29, the same day as the university's commencement graduation ceremony for which thousands of graduating students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston.
May 27's protest unfolded as news helicopters hovered overhead and graduating students in academic attire and their guests ate finger food at a reception on the lawns of Harvard Square nearby.
'I'm graduating this week and not only is my last week as a Harvard student but it's a very important week as all my international friends and peers and professors and researchers are at risk and be threatened with being deported – or their option is to transfer' to another university, said Ms Alice Goyer, who attended the protest wearing a black academic gown.
'As a US student, it's my responsibility to speak out for them.'
One history of medicine student from Britain graduating this week who gave his name only as Jack said that the policies pursued by Mr Trump would make US universities less attractive to international students.
'The cloud may pass but the damage will be done,' said the graduating student whose parents had travelled from Britain for the graduation ceremony, suggesting that the courts would likely overturn the most damaging measures.
'(Foreign students) who are here don't know where they stand, those overseas don't know if they'll be able to get back in... I don't know if I'd pursue a PhD here, six years is a long time.'
Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against the Mr Trump measures, which legal experts say are likely to be overturned by the courts.
Separately, alumni plan to file a lawsuit against Mr Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group that held a mass webinar to raise awareness and a fighting fund from former students.
The cutting of contracts announced on May 27 – estimated by US media to be worth US$100 million – would mark the slashing of business ties between the government and a university that is the country's oldest and a research powerhouse.
Amid a broad campaign against seats of learning that Mr Trump accuses of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism, the president has singled out Harvard for particular punishment.
In the last few weeks, the elite educational powerhouse has seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up.
The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 per cent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding.
A legal expert suggested Harvard could file a lawsuit to overturn the latest contract cuts as part of existing legal action.
'The case is so strong that the court system is not going to step to the side and allow this... to go forward,' said Albany Law School professor Ray Brescia.
He said the Trump administration's assault on Harvard was so flawed that a higher court would likely strike down the campaign against the university if Mr Trump was to challenge it on appeal.
On May 26, Mr Trump nonetheless vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle, claiming that foreign students at Harvard included 'radicalised lunatics, troublemakers.'
Professor of government Ryan Enos said that Mr Trump's campaign against Harvard had already made the United States less attractive as a destination for top scholars.
'I've already heard this from professors in other countries who say 'we encourage our best students to go to the United States',' he told AFP at the rally, adding 'we wonder if we can tell them that anymore.' AFP
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