The Trump administration threatens to prohibit foreign students from Harvard.

 

 "The university will never relinquish its independence or its constitutional rights," Harvard President Alan Garber wrote resolutely in a letter Monday to the Harvard community.

 According to Noyem's latest request, the school will "lose the opportunity to admit foreign students" if the demand for data is not fulfilled.

 Harvard is aware of Noyem's new request, which was communicated via letter, according to the Reuters news agency.

 International students make up over 27% of Harvard's admissions this year.  Prior to Noyem's remarks, the university had resumed accepting billions of dollars in donations after about $2.2 billion (about £1.7 billion) in federal grants were stopped.

Additionally, Trump threatened to revoke Harvard's most important tax exemptions, which could cost the school millions of dollars per year.   The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has already begun planning to implement this, according to U.S. media.

  Harvard responded that there is "no legal basis whatsoever" for revoking their tax exemptions, adding that "such an unprecedented move would severely undermine our ability to achieve our educational mission."

 In a further assault on the university, Trump declared on Wednesday that "This institution can no longer be considered a proper place for education."

The assault on Harvard by the administration is not unique.  At least 60 universities have already been selected for review by the government's antisemitic task committee.

Throughout the presidential campaign, Trump accused colleges of being anti-conservative and called for a reduction in their funding.   For a considerable amount of time, Trump and Vice President JD Vance have been vocal about their distaste for academic institutions.

  A Gallup research last year found that Republicans, in particular, have been losing faith in higher education over time.The perception of colleges as advancing a political agenda is one of the main justifications given.

 Trump has paid special attention to colleges where pro-Palestinian demonstrations have occurred since he took office.  Nonetheless, a few Jewish students have complained of frequent harassment and a sense of insecurity on campus.

Despite agreeing to a number of administrative demands in March, Columbia University later lost $400 million in federal funding because of its purported inability to combat antisemitism.  

The dismissal of the heads of the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies departments as well as a pledge to reexamine the admissions procedure to guarantee impartiality were among the requests.

 Harvard has also made some compromises, such as dismissing officials from its Center for Middle Eastern Studies who were criticized for not adequately representing Israeli viewpoints.

 But the White House's most recent list of demands has set a clear boundary, indicating the upper limit of what may be accepted moving forward.