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The Guardian
3 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Unions representing Harvard workers fear Trump's ‘authoritarian turn'
Labor unions representing undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and academic workers at Harvard University criticized the Trump administration's efforts to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, calling it 'one of the single largest concentrated deportation threats against a unionized workforce in our nation's history'. A judge on 29 May extended an injunction blocking the Trump administration from revoking Harvard's ability to host international students, which would affect 5,000 current students and 2,000 graduates in a post-graduation work programme. Some 4,000 student workers represented by unions at Harvard who would be impacted. 'The Trump's administration's threat to international scholars is a huge attack on thousands of UAW-represented workers on Harvard's campus. We are seeing escalations against immigrant workers across the country and this is no different,' said the director of the United Auto Workers Region 9A, Brandon Mancilla. 'The labor movement must see these attacks as what they are – an attempt to divide workers and create false enemies in a time of rampant corporate greed.' Sudipta Saha, a fourth-year PhD candidate in population health sciences at Harvard who holds citizenship with Canada and Bangladesh, and is a member of the executive board of the Harvard Graduate Students Union, explained the fears the move has instilled in international student workers on campus who are worried about their visa status, education and research. 'Even if Harvard wins this particular case, the broader authoritarian turn that this represents is still being successful, because a lot of people are worried about whether they can actually speak out,' said Saha. 'International students who have been asking me, have been asking each other, is it safe to go on the record? Is it safe to even write an op ed? And I think when people are asking questions like that, that kind of shows how already, how successful this kind of crackdown has been.' 'We do a lot of vital work. There are people working on robotics, cancer drugs and Alzheimer's research. All of that is impacted when they're forced to stop,' he added. 'All of this research work is tangled with a ton of other industries that are not necessarily within the university, from development of these pharmaceutical drugs to research equipment, all of those things are affected if they were forced to stop their work and leave.' The Trump administration has also halted interviews for all student exchanges and visas and secretary of state Marco Rubio has vowed to begin revoking visas of students from China with ties to the China Communist party or working in critical fields. Ellen Yi, a Rhodes scholar from China who was admitted to a doctoral program at Harvard, was set to join Harvard in fall 2025, but is now looking for different options. 'I feel a strong sense of insecurity and uncertainty. The policy keeps swinging back and forth and we don't know what is the next step of the government,' said Yi. 'I'm very pessimistic about the future and I'm looking for some safer options.' In response to Rubio's threats of revoking visas from Chinese students, she said: 'I was not very surprised, but still very disappointed, frustrated and kind of panicked, because the policy statement was very unclear,' adding it remains unclear how the Trump administration will define connections to the Chinese Communist party or critical fields. 'I find this absurd,' said Ozan Baytaş, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School from Turkey. 'There's a clear attack on the universities, freedom of speech, academic freedom and science, and there's a clear intention to purge the current system of many non-citizen workers who are very talented.' He cited Maureen Martin, the director of immigration services at Harvard, who wrote in a court declaration that the revocation notice has made students afraid to attend graduation ceremonies, have forced international students to reconsider their futures at Harvard and inquire about transferring, and that incoming international students have already reported experiencing issues in obtaining visas. 'Many internationals, non-citizen workers are afraid to speak out. Many want to leave. Many don't want to come back to the US, because they think their future plans may be interrupted by a whimsical move from the government at any moment,' Baytas added. 'The best of the best in the world wants to come here to Harvard because there are opportunities. There are many good research labs, and they simply won't come here, and the science here will suffer.' Despite the policies and rhetoric coming from the Trump administration, Baytaş argued that student workers and unions, in and out of the legal system, intend to fight back. 'People in the US here say stand up, fight back, so I am confident academic freedom will rise,' he concluded. 'I'm very hopeful, despite all the failings of the current administration.' Harvard and the White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Beyond students: Trump attacks on Harvard could affect thousands of workers
Nearly 4,000 Harvard University workers could be deported under the Trump administration's latest attack against the institution, according to a statement from Harvard University unions. The threat comes from the federal government's revocation of a key certification that allows Harvard to enroll international students. Harvard subsequently sued and asked for a temporary restraining order, which a federal judge allowed. 'This attack not only impacts Harvard's international students, but its academic workers on every level. Moreover, it is one of the single largest concentrated deportation threats against a unionized workforce in our nation's history, impacting nearly 4,000 workers,' the unions said. The workers include not only undergraduate and graduate students but also teaching faculty and postdoctoral researchers. 'I have spent the last four years studying historical mortality in the United States to understand how we can build a healthier, more equal society, and spent countless hours teaching about how we can use statistics to understand the societies we live in. I've made lifelong friends in the process. It's devastating to hear that I could be forced to stop this work before finishing my Ph.D. But it is unsurprising that the Trump administration wants to stop this type of work and instead focus on getting his billionaire friends tax cuts,' said Sudipta Saha, a fourth-year year doctoral student in Population Health Sciences. The unions that wrote the statement were the Harvard Graduate Students Union, the Harvard Academic Workers Union, the Harvard Undergraduate Workers Union and the Fabrication Workers United. Read more: Federal judge blocks Trump admin from revoking Harvard enrollment of foreign students The unions said international workers are essential to the Harvard community because of their contribution to ground-breaking research, teaching labor and help to train future scientists and thinkers. They are working on anything from cures for cancer and Alzheimer's to creating wearable robotics to aid mobility to analyzing global crises like climate change, to cultivating critical and creative thought via research in history, philosophy and the arts, the unions said. 'With these attacks on universities, tax cuts for the rich and silencing free speech against war, genocide and inequality; science, not the commercialized academic commodity, but the method to seek truth, will suffer greatly as the people committed to it are affected,' said Ozan Baytaş, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School. 'More than half of postdoctoral researchers are non-citizen workers at Harvard; they bring so much to research and teaching. If we are kicked out, universities will never be the same, and indeed neither will the country that houses them,' Baytaş said. The Harvard unions said they commend the institution for standing up against the Trump administration. However, they are also demanding that the university take more steps to support international workers. The unions are asking for Harvard to: Exercise all legal rights to protect student records, enrollment status, disciplinary records, employment records, or personal information of any Harvard affiliates from immigration authorities or other federal agencies. Refuse to comply with or institute surveillance practices of Harvard affiliates, including those participating in political speech and protests on campus. Commit to maintaining all students' enrollment or worker status if their student status or Visa status changes; in the event of student status or Visa terminations, commit to reinstating those statuses as quickly as possible. Create consistent remote schooling and work options for students and workers who may need to complete their schooling or appointments outside of the United States. Issue immediate notifications to all students, faculty, and staff if Harvard University representatives receive a request from immigration officials to access records or campus buildings. Create an emergency fund and provide comprehensive pro bono legal services that are accessible to all non-citizen Harvard affiliates. Commit to securing workers' visa status where possible to visas that do not go through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, also known as SEVP. Commit to helping any institution of higher education accept the co-enrollment and transfer of our international student workers and to defray the costs of such actions, including a commitment to help maintain all levels of scholarship, financial aid and other financial support currently available to our affected students. Clarify the University's definition of non-public spaces where non-citizen affiliates can be safe from officers in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. Affirm that no Harvard affiliates, including non-citizens, will be punished for the content of their speech, particularly on the basis of political dissent and solidarity with Palestine. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program, also known as SEVP, allows higher education institutions to issue visa application forms to prospective international students after admitting them. The forms are used to apply for a visa to enter the United States. The certification requirements include that the school is operational and instructing students, has the necessary facilities and adequate finances to operate, provides instruction to a degree or objective and meets state requirements to operate, according to the Department of Homeland Security website. Read more: Here's everything Trump has stripped from Harvard so far — and what is threatened Institutions are recertified every two years, but can be evaluated at other points in time if they have information suggesting that it isn't complying with regulations. If the certification is taken away, an institution isn't allowed to enroll international students. Current students would have to choose between transferring to another institution, leaving the U.S., or changing their immigration status, according to the ICE website. An example of the certification being stripped occurred at Herguan University in California in 2016 after its CEO pleaded guilty to providing fraudulent documents to the Department of Homeland Security, according to East Bay Times. Harvard has been in a battle with the federal government since April. There has been a wave of federal research grant terminations at Harvard University, in addition to a $60 million in multi-year grants, $450 million cut and a $2.2 billion freeze. U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has also told the institution that the federal government would be barring Harvard University from acquiring new federal grants while the university continues to refuse to comply with the administration's demands for change on its campus. On Tuesday, the Trump administration directed federal agencies to cut off existing contracts with Harvard or transfer them to other vendors. Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that they share the same 'common ground,' but the university 'will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear.' Garber pushed back on the administration through a lawsuit in April. The institution argues that its constitutional rights had been violated by the government's threats to pull billions of dollars in funding if the school didn't comply with demands for an the $450 million announced cuts, the university amended its lawsuit. 'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' the suit reads. Due to the federal cuts, Harvard announced that it was committing $250 million of 'central funding' to support research impacted by suspended and canceled federal grants. Celebrated Harvard professor accused of data fraud loses tenure — and her job How a college closing disaster led to new student protections in Mass. Here's everything Trump has stripped from Harvard so far — and what is threatened Harvard foreign students feel like 'poker chips,' consider transfer after Trump attacks Federal judge blocks Trump admin from revoking Harvard enrollment of foreign students Read the original article on MassLive.
