US President Donald Trump’s proclamation last week that he would bar Harvard University from enrolling new international students put the spotlight back on an unprecedented stand-off between the White House and America’s pre-eminent university.
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Trump’s move came less than a week after a federal court injunction blocked the US Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Harvard’s ability to host international students.
It was also just hours after the administration threatened Columbia University’s accreditation standing, contending that the New York school – like Harvard, an Ivy League university whose founding predated the creation of the United States – had permitted antisemitism on campus.
The hardline measures underscored Trump’s determination to keep elite education in his crosshairs as part of a wider culture war that defines his political brand and raise fresh questions about whether they will be able to survive an onslaught that does not appear to have an off-ramp.
With many governmental measures targeting international students – or those from mainland China and Hong Kong, in particular – on national security grounds before US courts, the price that America’s most prestigious universities will pay is unclear.
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Muddying the picture even more, Trump has made comments over the past week suggesting that Chinese students are welcome, topping them off with an all-caps green light for Chinese students when, on Wednesday, he trumpeted a long-awaited trade deal with China as “done”, once Chinese President Xi Jinping approves.
“WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!),” he posted on his Truth Social account.