特朗普政府取消哈佛招收外国学生资格，要求数千名学生转学
【中美创新时报2025 年 5 月 22 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）特朗普政府周四取消了哈佛大学招收外国学生的资格，这是其重塑哈佛大学以符合特朗普总统的世界观和议程的行动 中最具破坏性的举措之一。《波士顿环球报》记者迈克·达米亚诺朱莉娅·麦克唐纳·涅托·德尔·里奥和布鲁克·豪瑟对此作了下述报道。
距离新生确认录取的截止日期仅剩几天，而现有学生也正在为 9月份的新学年制定计划，此举让数千名学生的未来陷入不确定性。这也引发了人们对在哈佛大学就读的外国学生是否能够合法留在美国的疑问。
据一位知情人士透露，此前数周，哈佛大学与联邦政府就国土安全部长克里斯蒂·诺姆上个月提出的一项特殊记录请求进行了反复交涉。诺姆最初要求哈佛大学交出大量关于其外国学生的文件，包括纪律处分记录。
诺姆在周四的一封信中表示，哈佛大学必须在72小时内交出所有要求的记录，才能恢复招收外国学生的资格。美国国土安全部的一份新闻稿称，如果撤销资格的措施持续有效，将意味着“哈佛大学将无法再招收外国学生，现有的外国学生必须转学，否则将失去合法身份”。
哈佛大学发言人杰森·牛顿称政府阻止学校招收外国学生的行为是“非法的”。
他说：“我们全力致力于维护哈佛大学接待国际学生和学者的能力，这些学生和学者来自140多个国家，为哈佛大学乃至整个国家带来了巨大的贡献。此次报复行动可能会对哈佛社区和我们的国家造成严重损害，并破坏哈佛大学的学术和研究使命。”
国际学生约占哈佛大学学生总数的四分之一，2024-2025学年将有近6800名学生。此次撤销将影响学生通常使用的F签证和教授、研究人员或学生等可以使用的J签证。
这只是特朗普政府施压行动的最新一轮攻击。特朗普政府此前指责哈佛大学未能打击校园反犹太主义，在其多元化举措中存在非法歧视，并向学生灌输左翼思想。特朗普政府削减了哈佛大学近30亿美元的联邦研究经费，并要求该校接受联邦监督。
哈佛大学表示其遵守法律。今年4月，该校起诉特朗普政府，指控其要求和资金削减违反了联邦法律和宪法保护。
波士顿移民律师马修·毛伊纳 (Matthew Maoina) 表示，特朗普政府不能合法阻止哈佛大学招收外国学生，除非该校违反了追踪学生签证状态的学生和交流访问者计划的条款。
他说：“我完全不明白撤销这项决定的理由。”
诺姆于4月16日提出的原始记录请求，要求哈佛大学提交所有关于学生签证持有人非法行为或“危险或暴力活动”的信息。该请求还要求提供任何因威胁其他学生或参与抗议活动而受到处罚的学生签证持有人的纪律处分记录。其中最广泛的一项要求是指示哈佛大学提交证明每位学生签证持有人均遵守合法居留美国所需的最低课程负担的证明。
4 月 30 日，哈佛大学执行副校长梅雷迪斯·威尼克 (Meredith Weenick) 宣布学校已回应该请求并“提供法律要求的信息”。
但根据诺姆周四的信函，国土安全部认为该回应及后续回应均不充分。她表示，哈佛大学拒绝交出与“不当行为和其他可能导致外国学生不予受理或被驱逐出境的违规行为”相关的记录。
她写道：“必须采取相应措施，向哈佛大学和所有想要享受招收外国学生特权的大学发出明确信号。”
如果不撤销取消外国学生入学资格的决定，可能 会给大学带来重大的财务打击。外国学生通常没有资格获得联邦财政援助，因此他们往往需要支付更高比例的全额学费。
“这可能会让哈佛大学损失数亿美元，”韦尔斯利学院经济学教授菲利普·莱文说。“如果再加上其他可能产生的费用，即使对哈佛大学来说，这也是一笔巨款。”
然而，哈佛大学前预算官员拉里·拉德 (Larry Ladd) 表示，对于哈佛大学来说，“这在财务上的影响小于在教育和研究使命上的影响”。
“如果有必要，他们可以在本科阶段取代国际学生，因为本科阶段的收入主要来自国内学生，”他说。但该大学招收研究生是为了“支持来自世界各地的研究项目”。
教育部长琳达·麦克马洪最近宣布，哈佛大学的研究人员没有资格获得新的联邦拨款。联邦政府是美国最大的科学研究资助者。
拉德表示，哈佛大学具有韧性，但在特朗普总统任期的剩余时间里，“哈佛的规模将比现在更小，甚至比2024年更小。研究生数量会更少，研究工作也会比以前少得多。其工作范围也会缩小。”
哈佛大学陈曾熙公共卫生学院环境健康研究员斯科特·德莱尼表示，40%的学生是国际学生。所有公共卫生学院的学生都在攻读硕士或博士学位。
“这些都是我每天一起工作的同事。今天又经历了一场地狱般的磨难，真是难以想象，”他说。
“公共卫生是一项全球性事业……我们的目标是开展世界一流的研究，而要做到这一点，我们需要世界上最优秀的研究人员。这次袭击，不仅仅是资金问题，更是对那些致力于世界公共卫生事业的人们的内心深处的伤害，”他说。
周四，学生们对校方的声明感到震惊。来自瑞典的哈佛大学四年级学生利奥·格尔登（Leo Gerdén）担心自己下周能否毕业。“真的很难接受正在发生的事情，”他说。
诺姆在信中表示，这项政策变化将影响哈佛大学 2025-2026 学年的招生，因此计划本学期毕业的大四学生可能会幸免于难。
哈佛大学国际学生权益倡导者格尔登 (Gerdén)称，此次撤销“对我们所有人来说都是绝对可怕的、绝对毁灭性的”。
他特别担心那些预计9月份回国的外国学生，以及现在可能被哈佛大学禁止入学的新生。
“四年前，我考上哈佛的时候，那真是我一生中最美好的一天，”他说。“可现在想想……你现在的处境，你的整个梦想都被夺走了。真是太残酷了。”
特朗普政府指责哈佛大学违反民权法，未能保护犹太学生在校园抗议以色列-哈马斯战争期间免受骚扰和歧视。近几个月来，哈佛大学政府逮捕了与亲巴勒斯坦活动有关的国际学生，并威胁要驱逐他们，其中包括塔夫茨大学学生鲁梅莎·奥兹图尔克（Rümeysa Öztürk）。
哈佛大学领导表示，学校正在采取措施解决校园反犹太主义问题。
哈佛大学校长艾伦·加伯此前也曾为国际学生辩护。 他在最近致教育部长琳达·麦克马洪的一封信中写道：“他们来到这个国家，来到哈佛，是为了学习并取得最高水平的成就，就像我们美国学生一样。”
马萨诸塞州州长、哈佛大学毕业生莫拉·希利周四表示，特朗普政府的举动向世界和数万名来到马萨诸塞州上大学的国际学生发出了“可怕的信息”。
“我认为这不合法，这只是特朗普总统试图压制批评者的又一个例子，”希利在州议会大厦的一场无关活动后告诉记者。“目前唯一的赢家是中国和其他正在挖走我们教师和学生的国家。”
《波士顿环球报》的 Nick Stoico、Diti Kohli、Liz Kowalczyk 和 Matt Stout 对本报告做出了贡献。
题图：哈佛大学发言人杰森·牛顿称，政府阻止学校招收外国学生的行为“违法”。图片来源：Craig F. Walker/《波士顿环球报》
附原英文报道：
Trump administration revokes Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, says thousands must transfer
By Mike Damiano, Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio and Brooke Hauser Globe Staff,Updated May 22, 2025, 2 hours ago
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton called the government’s attempt to stop the school from enrolling foreign students “unlawful.”Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff
The Trump administration on Thursday revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, one of the most damaging steps yet in its campaign to reshape the university to align with President Trump’s worldview and agenda.
The move throws the futures of thousands of students into uncertainty only days after the deadline for members of the incoming freshman class to confirm their acceptance and as existing students solidify plans for the new academic year in September. It also raises questions about whether foreign students enrolled at Harvard can lawfully remain in the country.
The announcement followed weeks of back and forth between Harvard and the federal government over an extraordinary records request sent by Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem last month, according to a person familiar with the discussions and publicly available records. Originally, Noem demanded Harvard turn over extensive documentation about its foreign students, including disciplinary records.
In a letter Thursday, Noem said Harvard must turn over all of the requested records within 72 hours to restore its ability to enroll foreign students. If the revocation remains in place, it will mean “Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status,” according to a Department of Homeland Security press release.
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton called the government’s attempt to stop the school from enrolling foreign students “unlawful.”
“We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university — and this nation — immeasurably,” he said. “This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.”
International students make up approximately one-quarter of Harvard’s student body, nearly 6,800 students during the 2024-2025 academic year. The revocation affects F-visas, typically used by students, and J-visas, which can be used by professors, researchers, or students, among others.
It is but the latest salvo in the pressure campaign by the Trump administration, which has accused Harvard of failing to combat campus antisemitism, engaging in illegal discrimination through its diversity efforts, and indoctrinating students into leftist ideology. The administration cut nearly $3 billion of Harvard’s federal research funding and demanded the university submit to federal oversight.
Harvard has said it complies with the law. In April, the school sued the Trump administration, alleging the demands and the funding cuts violate federal laws and constitutional protections.
Matthew Maoina, an immigration attorney in Boston, said the Trump administration cannot legally stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students unless the school has violated the terms of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program that tracks student visa status.
“I don’t see the reason at all for this to be revoked,” he said.
Noem’s original records request, dated April 16, ordered the school to turn over any information about illegal conduct or “dangerous or violent activity” by student visa holders. It also asked for disciplinary records for any student visa holder who was punished for threatening other students or participating in protests. The broadest of the demands instructed Harvard to turn over proof every student visa holder was maintaining a minimum required course load to lawfully remain in the country.
On April 30, Harvard’s executive vice president, Meredith Weenick, announced the school had responded to the request and “provide[d] information required by law.”
But the Department of Homeland Security found that response and a subsequent one inadequate, according to Noem’s letter Thursday. She said Harvard refused to turn over records related to “misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable.”
“Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” she wrote.
The revocation of foreign student enrollment could be a significant financial blow to the university if it isn’t reversed. Foreign students tend to pay a higher proportion of full tuition as they are generally not eligible for federal financial aid.
“This could cost Harvard hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Phillip Levine, an economics professor at Wellesley College. “When you add that to the other costs that may be imposed on them, it is a massive amount of money, even for Harvard.”
However, Larry Ladd, a former budget officer at Harvard, said for the university “it’s less of an impact financially than on their education and research mission.”
“They can replace, if they had to, international students at the undergraduate level, where the revenue comes in with domestic students,” he said. But the university admits graduate students “to support their research programs from everywhere in the world.”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon recently announced that Harvard researchers are ineligible for new federal grants. The federal government is the biggest funder of scientific research in the country.
Ladd said the university is resilient, but that over the remainder of Trump’s presidential term, “Harvard will be a smaller place than it is now, or than it was in 2024. There will be fewer graduate students, and much less research than before. The scope of its work will be reduced.”
Scott Delaney, an environmental health researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said 40 percent of students are international. All public health school students are pursuing master’s or doctoral degrees.
“These are my colleagues who I work with every day. It’s hard to contemplate today’s fresh hell,” he said.
“Public health is a global enterprise. . . . Our goal is to produce best-in-world research, and to do that, we need the world’s best researchers. This attack, more than funding, cuts to the core of the community of folks who dedicate their lives to the public health of the world,” he said.
Students on Thursday were staggered by the administration’s announcement. Leo Gerdén, a Harvard senior from Sweden, wondered whether he would be able to graduate next week. “It is truly hard to process what is happening,” he said.
Noem’s letter said the policy change will affect Harvard enrollment for the 2025-2026 academic year, so seniors planning to graduate this semester may be spared.
Gerdén, an advocate for international students at Harvard, called the revocation “absolutely horrible, absolutely devastating, for all of us.”
He was especially concerned for those foreign students who were expecting to return in September, as well as incoming freshmen who now may be barred from Harvard.
“Four years ago, when I got into Harvard, it was truly the best day of my life,” he said. “And then imagine . . . seeing this, and your entire dream is being taken away from you. It is just so cruel.”
The Trump administration has accused Harvard of violating civil rights laws by failing to protect Jewish students from harassment and discrimination amid the campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war. In recent months, the government has arrested and threatened to deport international students linked to pro-Palestinian advocacy, including Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk.
Harvard leaders have said the university is taking steps to address campus antisemitism.
And, in earlier remarks, Harvard president Alan Garber defended international students. “They come to this country and to Harvard to learn and achieve at the highest levels, just as our US students do,” he said in a recent letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
Governor Maura Healey, a Harvard graduate, said Thursday that the Trump administration’s move sends a “terrible message to the world” and to the tens of thousands of international students who come to Massachusetts for college.
“I don’t think it’s legal, and it’s just another example of President Trump attempting to silence critics,” Healey told reporters after an unrelated event at the State House. “The only one winning in this is China right now and other countries who are recruiting our faculty and students away.”
Nick Stoico, Diti Kohli, Liz Kowalczyk, and Matt Stout of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
