Harvard University sued the Trump administration on Friday, a day after the federal government said it would block the nation’s oldest university’s ability to enroll foreign students.
In a complaint filed in a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, Harvard argues that the administration’s effort to block foreign students from enrollment violates the university’s First Amendment rights and would dramatically alter its ability to operate.
“With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” the complaint states.
On Thursday, the administration terminated Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, forcing the university’s foreign students, roughly a fourth of its student body, to either transfer to alternative universities or lose their legal status.
In the complaint, Harvard accuses the government of “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”
The university refused to comply with sweeping reforms from the administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism last month, which included who Harvard can admit or hire, and subjecting its faculty to a government audit.
“We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,” Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, said in a Friday letter to the university’s community. “It imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”
