(Boston) A federal judge blocked the efforts of the Trump administration on Friday aimed at preventing Harvard University from welcoming foreign students.
An order from the American district judge Allison Burroughs preserves Harvard’s ability to welcome foreign students while waiting for the judgment of the case. This is a new victory for the establishment, which opposes multiple government sanctions as part of a battle with the White House.
In May, Harvard brought legal action against the Department of Internal Security after the agency withdrew its certification to accommodate foreign students and issue the necessary documents to obtain their visas. This measure would have forced the approximately 7,000 Harvard foreign students to be transferred or risk being in an irregular situation in the United States. New foreign students would not have been allowed to register for Harvard.
The University has described this measure of illegal reprisals for rejected the White House requests to reform Harvard policies concerning campus demonstrations, admissions, hiring and other questions. Mme Burroughs temporarily suspended the action a few hours after Harvard’s legal action.
Less than two weeks later, in early June, Donald Trump decided to ban entry into the United States to foreign students wishing to integrate Harvard, invoking another legal justification. Harvard challenged this decision and judge Burroughs also temporarily blocked this initiative.
Donald Trump has been at war with Harvard for months after the University had rejected a series of government demands aimed at responding to the complaints of the conservatives that the university has become too liberal and tolerated the harassment against the Jews. Donald Trump officials have reduced research subsidies by more than 2.6 billion, ending federal contracts and threatened to revoke its tax exemption status.
In April, the secretary of internal security, Kristi Noem, demanded that Harvard give him a multitude of documents relating to any dangerous or illegal activity of foreign students. Harvard claims to have complied with this request, but Mme Noem explained that the response was insufficient and revoked Harvard certification on May 22 to the exchange of students and visitors.
This sanction immediately disadvantaged Harvard in his efforts to attract the best students in the world, said the university in its complaint, and has informed its reputation as a global research center.
“Without his foreign students, Harvard is no longer Harvard,” said the complaint.
This action would have upset certain doctoral schools which massively recruit abroad. Some of them, including two Hong Kong universities, quickly invited Harvard students.
Harvard president Alan Garber previously said that the university had implemented measures to combat anti -Semitism. But Harvard, he said, will not derogate from his “fundamental principles, protected by law”, even after receiving federal ultimatums.
