What Trump’s war on universities means for international students and scholars
On June 4, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation banning all new international students from Harvard University, and asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to prohibit all existing foreign students there, which a Harvard spokesperson called “yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights.”
Trump’s attack on Harvard is part of a war on academia unprecedented in the history of American higher education. In this battle against universities, academic freedom and federal funding have been the primary targets, but international students and scholars have become the most vulnerable casualties.
The threats against international students represent the intersection of three lines of attack by the Trump administration: a war on universities, a war on immigrants and a war on dissent. [Continue reading…]