A US judge issued a temporary restraining order on Harvard’s efforts to prevent foreign students from registering.
Friday’s ruling comes in response to an emergency petition filed earlier that day in U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts.
In that petition, Harvard sought immediate relief after banning the use of the federal government system, a student-exchange visitor program required to register international students, under the control of President Donald Trump.
US District Judge Alison Burrows agreed with Harvard that schools and their students could be harmed if the Trump administration’s decision was enacted. Her injunction was set to last about two weeks, with hearing dates set for May 27th and 29th.
The lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday was Harvard’s second in less than two months.
The most recent is a response to Thursday’s decision, released by Homeland Security Secretary Christie Noem. Her department oversees the Student and Exchange Visitors Program, and she said she is revoking Harvard’s privilege to use the system based on her failure to address Trump administration’s concerns.
“This administration is responsible for Harvard University’s promotion of violence, anti-Semitism and coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” she wrote on social media.
Revocation means Harvard University cannot accept international students. Those who are already registered must transfer to another school.
The move represents a major escalation in Trump’s pressure campaign against Harvard and other US universities. He accuses schools of attacking anti-Semitism, promoting “discriminatory” diversity programs and promoting ideological sloping.
But in a lawsuit Friday, Harvard called the Trump administration’s actions a “blatant violation” of the U.S. Constitution and other federal law.
It allegedly had “immediate and devastating effects” at the university, except that the prestigious Ivy League schools would register international students, claiming it was “immediate and devastating” by more than 7,000 visa holders of the student body.
“The Penn stroke has led the government to erase a quarter of the international students who have made a significant contribution to Harvard student organizations, the university and its mission,” the complaint states. “Without international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”
Trump’s current battle with higher education can largely be tracked in response to Israeli war in Gaza, in response to the pro-Palestinian protests that occurred on US campuses last year. Trump has cracked down on anti-war protests at the heart of his 2024 reelection campaign.
Although there were cases of harassment from participants on both sides of the issue, the protest organizers rejected widespread claims of anti-Semitic sentiment. Some campus protests are spearheaded by Jewish students and organizations, including Jewish voices for peace.
Earlier this year, the Harvard Task Force issued two reports warning cases of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias, as well as anti-Semitism.
Harvard said it is working to address these concerns. Nevertheless, in April, Harvard became the latest school to receive a list of requests from the Trump administration.
The list includes reforming employment and admissions practices, recognizing students deemed “hostile to American values and institutions,” abolishing diversity programs and refusing to audit academic programs and centers, including several related to the Middle East.
Harvard rejected the request and faced a freeze of $2.2 billion on grants over several years and $60 million on multi-year contracts. Several federal agencies have since frozen tens of millions more dollars in grants to Harvard.
The university responded in April’s lawsuit to freeze Trump’s funding, and said the administration was violating the first amendment to the US Constitution with “arbitrarily and whimsical” cuts.
Trump was also to revoke Harvard’s tax-free status, and in April, Norm wrote to Harvard University, threatening to revoke approval for the Student and Exchange Visitors Program if administrators did not send information about foreign students’ “illegal and violent activities.”
At the end of April, Harvard said it provided all the information it legally needed without providing details.
“Impossible harm”
The lawsuit Friday calls for immediate relief from the Trump administration’s decision to rule out Harvard’s ability to study abroad, citing “irreparable harm caused by this lawlessness.”
In response to the complaint, White House spokesman Abigail Jackson accused the school of being too little to address Trump administration’s concerns.
“If only Harvard University had this much of a concern about ending the tragedy of anti-American, anti-Semitic, professional terrorist agitators on campus, they wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place,” Jackson said.
“Instead of filing frivolous lawsuits, Harvard should spend time and resources on creating a safe campus environment,” she added.
In a letter to the Harvard community, school president Alan Gerber framed Trump’s attacks on Harvard’s foreign student groups as part of a “sequence of government actions to retaliate against Harvard for refusing to abandon academic independence.”
Gerber described the accreditation as evidence of “illegal claims of control over federal curriculum, faculty and student organizations.”
In the complaint, Harvard University said the decertification disrupted “countless” academic programs, clinics, courses and labs.
Harvard has registered nearly 6,800 international students this academic year. This corresponds to 27% of total registrations.
On Thursday, Noem also said that it could avoid movement if Harvard University flipped details about foreign students, including video and audio from the protests over the past five years.
Harvard claims it already meets the legal requirements for disclosure.
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