In Donald Trump’s escalating war on academia and particularly Harvard, he has threatened to wield his presidential powers to cut off $9 billion in funding, the school’s tax exemption and now its right to host international students.
Students from other nations make up more than 27 percent of the Cambridge school’s student body, according to Harvard’s One World program, some 6,700 people from 147 countries – the top origins of students being China, Canada, India, the Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom. These students often pay their full tuition, which makes for more opportunities for U.S. students to attend the nation’s oldest operating university on scholarships.
The new threat from the Trump administration came Wednesday, prompting a Thursday “Stand Up for Internationals” protest in Harvard Yard.
Harvard sophomore Abdullah Shahid Sial, who goes by Sial, learned about the threat around 10 p.m. Wednesday in an email from The Harvard Crimson, the school’s student newspaper.
A letter from the Department of Homeland Security and signed by its secretary, Kristi Noem, has demands including the handing over of student records to the government, specifically that the university must provide details of each student’s “dangerous or violent activities,” as well as course enrollment, disciplinary actions and “obstruction of the school’s learning environment.”
The Trump administration has seized on protests around Gaza as a pretext for the pressure, saying they are antisemitic by being against Israel foreign policy as well as against U.S. interests in the area. Trump has said he wants the region cleared permanently so he can build luxury resorts there.
The letter gives Harvard 14 days to comply and threatens that noncompliance would result in the “automatic withdrawal” of Harvard’s Student and Visitor Exchange Program certification.
Sial, who studies applied math and economics, is co-president of the Harvard Undergraduate Association. He is one of only two students from Pakistan to be admitted to Harvard for the class of 2027.
It brings a village
International and domestic students – including Ezekiel Wells of the United States, Leo Gerdén of Sweden and Sial – pulled an all-nighter to prepare speeches for a protest Thursday. For that event, approximately 600 students and faculty turned out at the steps of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard on short notice.
In his speech, Sial shared how meaningful his Harvard acceptance was to his family and community. His home village of Muzaffargarh booked an entire bus to come to Lahore to celebrate with Sial’s family. “For them, it was a massive, massive achievement that someone from their community ended up going to place like this, and such a prestigious one.”
International students do not just benefit from a Harvard education; they enrich the local community, Sial said. He mentioned international students who have served at the Y2Y Network, a student-run program for youth experiencing homelessness, and the Phillips Brooks House Association, which offers student-run community-based programs and where he “knows more international students who work there than domestic ones.”
“I did a bunch of programs with PBHA, like helping out different schools in the area, but I wasn’t as involved as many of my international peers,” Sial said.
Contributions to community
Laurie Rothstein, executive director of Cambridge Volunteers, says that many Harvard international students (and even more often their spouses) donate their skills in the local community, such as a Harvard graduate student who was key in tutoring Cambridge high school students. International students make great volunteers, she said. “If you are tutoring or mentoring or working in food pantry, as a foreigner, you often come with comfort and sensitivity.”
Language skills are also really important in Cambridge, where residents come from numerous countries. At a food pantry, Rothstein said, knowing people’s language can be very helpful in bridging gaps. “It makes people feel so much more comfortable.”
Ezekiel Wells, from Oak Park, Illinois, a sophomore who studies economics, also spoke out Thursday and was struck by a realization about the crowd. “I was looking across at some of the people attending today, and it was actually quite surprising, because some of these people, I would not have expected to show up here,” Wells said.
International students make contributions as students and graduates that can be groundbreaking, he said, citing those who “go on to create businesses that totally reshape the way we think about climate change.”
An international line
The message of the protest is that there is a line the Trump administration cannot cross, he said. “I think people are really willing to buy in and show that Harvard, no matter where you come from, no matter if you’re left or right, or you come from a big state or a small state or a city or the, you know, middle of nowhere, you can get behind this and say, we as Harvard stand together and we’re here for our fellow classmates.”
Harvard Law School professor Nikolas Bowie, who also attended, said that the protest was a good opportunity to define freedom and democracy and “why those are important values for us to defend as an academic community.”
Although Bowie said he could not comment on whether or not there was anything Harvard could do legally as a reaction to the threats from the administration, he said, “The need for solidarity has never been more important.”
A Harvard spokesperson noted that the DHS letter “follows on the heels of our statement that Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
“We continue to stand by that statement. We will continue to comply with the law and expect the administration to do the same,” said Sarah Kennedy-O’Reilly, assistant director for media relations and communications at the school. “Harvard values the rule of law and expects all members of our community to comply with university policies and applicable legal standards. If federal action is taken against a member of our community, we expect it will be based on clear evidence, follow established legal procedures, and respect the constitutional rights afforded to all individuals.”
A stronger
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Cambridge has long relied on immigrants and foreign visitors as volunteers. Our partners confirm that these groups are notably good at meeting diverse constituents where they are, bringing patience and a comfortable vibe to those interactions. Immigrant patrons may also become effective volunteers. A food pantry manager says “It’s essential that patrons feel comfortable and welcome. Having volunteers & staff who share some aspects of their identities really helps.”
Visiting students and their spouses are barred from paid employment, and spouses may have left successful careers back home. They seek purpose and connection. A psychologist from Chile helped a social service agency produce curricula for their session leaders. A Malaysian communications pro now manages nonprofit social media accounts. Scores of visiting spouses with STEM expertise tutor and mentor local youth.
Volunteerism is just one way that our international community moves us all forward, together.