Trump, Harvard confrontation takes a sharp turn

The Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has terminated Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Programme certification, pushing out 7,000 visa holders.

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Harvard remained defiant and immediately sued the Trump Administration in the Boston federal court. The university said in its petition, “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.” It asserted, “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

Noem, dismissing Harvard's lawsuit, said, “If only Harvard cared this much about ending the scourge of anti-American, anti-Semitic, pro-terrorist agitators on their campus they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with.” She went on to accuse Harvard of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.”

Noem said that the certification could be restored if the university handed over information about the visa-holding students, including audio records and their participation in campus protests. This is indeed the classic battle between a liberal university which believes in dissent and freedom of speech, and an authoritarian government which opposes liberalism, freedom of speech.