The department of homeland security has revoked Harvard University’s certification to accept foreign students, citing its affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) and a hostile campus culture conducive to hatred and pro-terrorist behavior. The decision of Homeland Security minister Kristi Noem, which was revealed in a strongly worded order on Wednesday, accuses the Ivy League giant of” coordination with the Chinese Communist Party” and creates a dangerous environment for Jews students and dissidents. Secretary Noem criticized Harvard for promoting hatred, coordinating with the CCP on its campus, and nominating it for president. Harvard’s more than 6, 000 worldwide students, nearly a quarter of whom are Foreign nationals, are immediately in limbo as a result of the decision. Individuals who are still studying must now move or risk losing their legal status in the United States.
Why is it important?
- Harvard’s removal from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program ( SEVP ) is a stunning rebuke of a university that has long been regarded as the pinnacle of higher education in the United States.
- It is the first time in recent memory that DHS has revoked a prestigious institution’s right to host international students, underscoring how allegations of CCP penetration and school crime have become focal points in the wider US-China conflict.
- The selection also indicates that the US government is aggressively combating Chinese effect in academic settings. Harvard has been accused by critics of acting as a conduit for Beijing’s military and paramilitary research initiatives, which coincide with a congressional force to stop CCP-linked work to co-opt US institutions.
The big picture: China’s reach on campusThe backdrop of this crisis is Harvard’s extensive and, critics say, troubling entanglement with Beijing. Investigators found that Harvard’s partnerships with the CCP went far beyond innocent academic collaboration.Harvard hosted and trained members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a paramilitary arm of the CCP designated by the US Treasury for its role in the Uyghur genocide. Despite that 2020 designation, Harvard continued to provide public health training to XPCC officials as recently as 2024. These trainings are no mere cultural exchange – they directly aided a group complicit in mass internment, forced sterilization, and other abuses of China’s Muslim minorities.Chairman John Moolenaar of the House select committee on China minced no words: “Harvard trained members of a sanctioned Chinese paramilitary group responsible for genocide. These are not isolated incidents-they represent a disturbing pattern that puts US national security at risk.”The House inquiry also uncovered Harvard research partnerships funded by the department of defense with Chinese military universities like Tsinghua and Zhejiang, even as those same universities work to strengthen Beijing’s military capabilities in aerospace and optics. In one project, Harvard researchers collaborated on organ transplantation studies with Chinese partners amid ongoing allegations of forced organ harvesting by the CCP.A web of influence – and moneyThe financial ties between Harvard and China are equally significant. Harvard has accepted more than $151 million from foreign governments since 2020, much of it from Beijing. One of the university’s biggest donations came from Ronnie Chan, a property tycoon linked to the China-United States Exchange Foundation – an organization registered under US law as a foreign principal, requiring transparency over lobbying work on behalf of China.For decades, these funds and partnerships were seen as a badge of Harvard’s global prestige. But in the eyes of Congress and the Trump administration, they now look like Trojan horses: Conduits for CCP influence on American soil.A White House official put it bluntly: “For too long, Harvard has let the Chinese Communist Party exploit it. It turned a blind eye to vigilante CCP-directed harassment on-campus.”What they’re saying
- Secretary Noem claimed that Harvard’s management “had lots of opportunity to do the proper thing,” but that it “refused” to comply with national demands for information about wrongdoing by foreign students. Allow this serve as a reminder to all institutions, she said.
- Elise Stefanik, chairwoman, said yet more forcefully,” We may guarantee that no British institution allows the CCP’s defense modernization or the Egyptian regime’s ambitions, especially under the guise of intellectual exchange.”
- The school response has been a mixture of defiance and fear, in the interim. A Chinese grad student at Harvard said,” All comes here with the best of changing the world,” and they all did it without an explanation to the New York Times. However, the globe shuts me out when I’m trying to understand the earth.
- The Chinese military responded in Beijing, retorting, saying that “educational exchanges and cooperation… should not be stigmatized.” Online, the media climbed to the top of Chinese social media trending lists, with some describing it as the final nail in the coffin of a once-admired US university.
Between the linesHarvard’s revocation comes amid a broader wave of US-China decoupling-spanning trade, technology, and now education. For decades, Chinese students flocked to Harvard and other US universities, seen as the pinnacle of global learning and a bridge between two rival powers. That bridge is crumbling.The case also highlights a new flashpoint in US domestic politics: How to balance academic freedom with national security. Harvard claims that the revocation is a violation of free speech rights under the First Amendment. Former Harvard President Larry Summers called it “the most serious attack on the university to date.”But supporters of the crackdown see it as a long-overdue reckoning with what they call “naïve” or “greedy” entanglements that have let CCP influence fester unchecked on US campuses.Zoom in: Harvard’s campus crisisThe Trump administration’s decision comes after months of growing alarm about Harvard’s campus climate, particularly for Jewish students. A joint-government task force found that Jewish students faced “pervasive insults, physical assault, and intimidation” while pro-Hamas student groups thrived after the October 7 attacks on Israel.“Harvard has let crime rates skyrocket, enacted racist DEI practices, and accepted boatloads of cash from foreign governments,” the DHS order charged. Campus crime rates jumped 55% from 2022 to 2023, with aggravated assaults up 195% and robberies up 460%.One particularly egregious incident: a protester charged with assaulting a Jewish student was later chosen by Harvard Divinity School as Class Marshal for commencement.What’s nextHarvard has sued the federal government to block the order, winning a temporary injunction from a federal judge on Friday. But with the House Select Committee on China setting a June 2 deadline for internal documents, the legal and political battle is far from over.“Harvard must be held accountable,” said chairwoman Stefanik. “We demand full transparency and immediate cooperation with Congress.”Some Chinese students, once eager to study in the US, are rethinking their futures. “I want to return to China after graduation,” one told the New York Times, fearing further visa restrictions and discrimination.(With inputs from agencies)
