The department of Homeland Security has revoked Harvard University’s certification to enroll foreign students, citing its ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a toxic campus climate of antisemitism and pro-terrorist conduct. Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem’s decision-delivered in a sharply worded order on Wednesday-accuses the Ivy League giant of “coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party” while fostering an unsafe environment for Jewish students and dissenters.“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the CCP on its campus,” secretary Noem declared. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students.”The move instantly threw Harvard’s more than 6,000 international students-nearly a quarter of whom are Chinese nationals-into limbo. Existing students must now transfer or face losing their legal status in the United States.
Why it matters
- Harvard’s expulsion from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is a stunning rebuke of a university that has long been seen as the pinnacle of American higher education.
- It marks the first time in modern memory that DHS has stripped an elite institution of its ability to host foreign students-underscoring how allegations of CCP infiltration and campus violence have become flashpoints in the broader US-China rivalry.
- The decision also signals that the US government is taking an aggressive stance against Chinese influence in American academia. Critics have accused Harvard of becoming a conduit for Beijing’s military and paramilitary research-concerns that dovetail with a bipartisan push in Congress to root out CCP-linked efforts 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 said Harvard’s leadership “had plenty of opportunity to do the right thing” but “refused” to comply with federal demands for information about foreign students’ misconduct. “Let this serve as a warning to all universities,” she said.
- Chairwoman Elise Stefanik was even more blunt: “We must ensure that no American institution enables the CCP’s military modernization or the Iranian regime’s ambitions-especially under the guise of academic exchange.”
- Meanwhile, on campus, the reaction has been a mix of fear and defiance. “Everyone comes here with the ideal of changing the world,” said a Chinese graduate student at Harvard, speaking anonymously to the New York Times. “But when I’m trying to understand the world, the world shuts me out.”
- In Beijing, the Chinese embassy pushed back, saying “educational exchanges and cooperation… should not be stigmatized.” Online, the news shot to the top of social media trending lists in China, where some viewed it as a final nail in the coffin of once-admired US universities.
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)
