The Ivy League school argues that Homeland Security and other government officials violated its constitutional rights.
Harvard University on Friday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its decision a day earlier to revoke the Ivy League school’s ability to enroll foreign students.
The complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, alleged that the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) directive targeting the university was an unconstitutional retaliation for defying the White House’s demands.
“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,” lawyers for Harvard said in the lawsuit.
On Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard to be removed from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, noting that this means that a number of foreign-born Harvard students must transfer to another U.S. college.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Noem said in her statement. “It is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students and benefit from their higher tuition payments to help pad their multibillion-dollar endowments.”
Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students, and they come from more than 100 countries.
The decision targeting Harvard’s international enrollment stems from an April 16 request from Noem, who said that Harvard must provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation.
Noem said Harvard can regain its ability to host foreign students if it produces a trove of records on foreign students within 72 hours. Her updated request demands all records, including audio or video footage, of foreign students participating in protests or dangerous activity on campus.
Harvard’s lawsuit is asking a federal judge to immediately block the order by Noem targeting its enrollment practices. It names U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Noem, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of State, and others as defendants.
“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” Harvard’s lawyers stated.
Aside from the DHS decision and the fresh Harvard lawsuit, the Trump administration and the school have already been locked into a battle after the government pulled nearly $3 billion in funding. Harvard has also filed a legal challenge to get back the federal money.
But leaders at the university have argued that many Trump administration requests go beyond the scope of what the federal government can do and that such actions may violate Harvard’s constitutional rights.
What the Trump administration asked includes an audit of “viewpoints” of its student body, staff, administrators, and specific students due to “their ideological views,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in an April statement.
“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
Like a number of colleges and universities, Harvard generated criticism on how it handled anti-Israel protests and other activity on its campuses following the start of the Israel–Hamas conflict in October 2023. The school also has received criticism from Jewish alumni and current students about alleged anti-Semitism they’ve faced on campus.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.