Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says Harvard is ‘unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars.’
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on April 16 threatened to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students, and announced that DHS was pulling $2.7 million in grants from the school.
Noem tied the decision to Harvard’s response to the pro-Palestinian protests at the school that began after Israel’s military operation targeting Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip in response to the group’s attacks on southern Israel in October 2023.
The press release said that Noem has also written a letter demanding detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities” by April 30, or the university faces immediate loss of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification.
“If Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students,” the DHS said.
The college came under congressional investigation over a year ago after it was accused of condoning anti-Semitism on campus—a charge that prompted the then-Harvard president, Claudine Gay, to resign in January 2024, amid other accusations of plagiarism.
Noem said Harvard’s handling of anti-Semitic activities “threatens our national security.”
“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory,“ Noem said in the DHS statement. ”America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
Grants Canceled
DHS also canceled two grants to the school totaling $2.7 million, stating that they “undermine America’s values and security.”
The first, a $800,303 Implementation Science for Targeted Violence Prevention grant “branded conservatives as far-right dissidents in a shockingly skewed study,” DHS said.
The $1,934,902 Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Advisement grant “funded Harvard’s public health propaganda.”
Elite Colleges Face Heat
The move by the DHS is the latest action in a series of administration efforts against elite colleges and universities that allegedly permitted anti-Semitic and violent activities at the height of the nationwide pro-Palestinian protests in 2024.
Federal agencies recently pulled $2.26 billion in funding to Harvard.
The first of these called for substantial governance reforms, establishing clear hierarchies, elevating senior and tenured professors, and reducing the power of students and untenured faculty over school affairs.
They also called for an end to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and for implementation of merit-based hiring and admissions reform, demanding the university “adopt and implement merit-based admissions policies and cease all preferences based on race, color, national origin.”
The administration is also demanding that the school revamp its “recruitment, screening, and admissions of international students to prevent admitting students hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism.”
The letter also calls for Harvard to up its “viewpoint diversity,” with a demand that faculty in each department should reflect different perspectives on politics and social issues.
In response to these demands, Harvard suggested in an April 14 statement that they had no intention of complying.
President Donald Trump also suggested in a recent post on social media that the school lose its tax-exempt status, saying such status is “totally contingent on acting in the public interest.”
