by CUPA-HR | May 22, 2025
On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it terminated Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. According to DHS, this action bars Harvard from enrolling foreign students and requires foreign students currently enrolled at the institution to transfer to another U.S. institution or lose legal status.
In the announcement, DHS states that “Harvard’s leadership has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.” DHS claims that many of the agitators are foreign students. The announcement also accuses Harvard’s leadership of facilitating and engaging in coordinated activity with the Chinese Communist Party.
On April 16, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem sent a letter to Harvard requesting the university to provide records on foreign students’ illegal activity or misconduct. The letter stated that Harvard could face immediate loss of SEVP certification if it did not comply. According to the DHS announcement on the SEVP termination, Harvard did not provide “the required information requested and ignored a follow up request from the Department’s Office of General Counsel.”
In DHS’s announcement regarding the termination of Harvard’s SEVP certification, Noem states that DHS’s decision to terminate Harvard’s SEVP certification is “holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on campus.” She further states that “it is a privilege, not a right, for universities to enroll foreign students” and to “let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
CUPA-HR will monitor for additional updates on this decision and other actions taken by DHS.
