PULSE POINTS:
❓What Happened: President Donald J. Trump says “Harvard wants to fight” his administration, but is losing badly, and must hand over the names of its foreign students if it wants to deescalate tensions with the White House.
👤Who’s Involved: President Trump, Harvard University, the Department of Homeland Security, and foreign students enrolled under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).
🧾Key Quote: “Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they’re getting their ass kicked,” Trump said.
⚠️Fallout: The administration has frozen $3 billion in federal funding, moved to strip Harvard of its SEVP certification, and blocked new foreign visa appointments—threatening to cost the university hundreds of millions in tuition revenue.
📌Significance: Trump’s hard line against Harvard signals a broader crackdown on elite institutions accused of harboring antisemitism and evading federal oversight, while putting foreign student programs under unprecedented scrutiny.
IN FULL:
President Donald J. Trump is stipulating that Harvard University must hand over the names of its foreign students if it wants to rachet down its conflict with the White House. Speaking in the Oval Office on Wednesday, the America First leader emphasized that “Harvard wants to fight” and that his administration is ready to continue increasing pressure on the university to comply with federal directives on antisemitism and foreign student visa vetting.
“So, we have to look at the list, and Harvard has to understand, the last thing I want to do is hurt them. They’re hurting themselves,” President Trump said, referring to his administration’s requests for the university to enact reforms and crack down on anti-Semitic activists and demonstrations on campus. “Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they’re getting their ass kicked.”
Trump: “Harvard wants to fight. They want to show how smart they are, and they’re getting their ass kicked.”
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) May 28, 2025
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has suspended an estimated $3 billion in federal funding for Harvard, tied to concerns it is failing to tackle anti-Semitism and discriminating against white and Asian applicants in favour of less qualified applicants from other groups.
Additionally, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has moved to revoke the university’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. Around 27 percent of Harvard’s total enrolled student population is foreign, at just under 7,000. With the total cost for a foreign student to attend the Ivy League university estimated to be over $100,000 per year, the loss of those students could be a crippling financial blow to Harvard, in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
An Obama-appointed judge blocked this specific move, but the administration subsequently suspended the importation of foreign students generally, until new social media vetting processes are established.
While Harvard has tried to appear defiant to Trump’s White House directives in public, it is widely reported that the university’s administration is privately panicking over the reputational damage and financial burden the school is facing. Harvard is currently engaged in several ongoing lawsuits against the Trump administration.
