Welcome back to After the First 100 Days, Inside Higher Ed’s weekly roundup of news from the Hill to the Oval Office. I’m your host, Katherine Knott, IHE’s news editor who is doing completely fine.
It’s Day 123 of the second Trump administration. This week, House Republicans managed to pass significant legislation, Education Secretary Linda McMahon sparred with Hill Democrats, and then on Day 122, President Trump upped the ante against Harvard.
As of Thursday afternoon, Harvard can no longer enroll international students and all current students would have to transfer if the directive holds. (About a quarter of the students at Harvard are international.)
Harvard says the move is unlawful and sued Friday morning. Still, as is the norm with this administration, this move promises to cause a lot of chaos and uncertainty before the courts have the final say. But if the courts side with Harvard, it’s not clear whether the Trump administration will even comply with any order based on its recent history.
So, I know we say this a lot about the second Trump administration, but let’s remind ourselves that this is totally unprecedented.
Revoking a college’s certification for the Student Exchange and Visitor Program (which allows them to have international students) is a tool to go after institutions that are diploma mills or essentially selling student visas to would-be immigrants who want a fast way to enter the country.
As Clay Harmon, director of AIRC: The Association of International Enrollment Management, told us, “I’ve never heard of a fully accredited, reputable institution … being subjected to some kind of extraordinary SEVP investigation outside of the standard recertification process.”
And in Harvard’s case, it's not clear whether the administration actually conducted an investigation. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Harvard of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus.” And she warned that other institutions could be next.
How does all this end? Unclear. The administration seems to be trying to pressure Harvard back to the negotiation table and wants to make the university pay for rejecting its demands. But short of cutting off Harvard from federal financial aid (student loans and Pell Grants), this is one of the most significant penalties we’ve seen this administration impose so far. And that’s why Harvard sued right away.
In Other News:
- The Education Department has to rehire all those employees it laid off, but the agency is appealing and a spokesperson accused the judge of being “far-left” and “dramatically” overstepping his authority.
- Reconciliation (otherwise known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act) moves forward. We’ve covered that legislation several times in the newsletter, so you can catch up here. And over the holiday weekend, read Jessica Blake’s deep dive into Republicans’ murky plan to make colleges pay for students’ unpaid loans.
On Tap for Next Week:
- Congress is in recess, but we’ll be watching Harvard’s lawsuit closely.
- I’ll be at the Education Writers Association National Seminar, so if you are going, let’s meet up and get coffee.
That’s it for Week 16. It was another busy week in D.C. What do you want to know more about? Let me know at katherine.knott@insidehighered.com.
As always, if news breaks this afternoon or over the holiday weekend, you can find the latest at InsideHigherEd.com. In the meantime, I’ll be attending an elementary school production of Beauty and the Beast and then sitting in a park somewhere.
Have a good weekend!
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