A Harvard graduate student has described an atmosphere of “devastating” uncertainty on the campus, since the Trump administration seems to intensify their efforts to restrict international students in the prestigious university.
“It has definitely been a roller mountain ride,” said Fangzhou Jiang, who is a remaining semester in his Master’s program at the Kennedy Government School in Harvard. “During the last week, everyone was really panic about whether they should stay in the United States or start immediately.”
A federal judge in Boston announced Thursday that he would issue a preliminary judicial order that blocks Trump’s administration attempts to prevent Harvard from registering international students.
The ruling marks a temporary victory for the university in its continuous confrontation with the White House, which has launched multiple actions against the institution.
You can see a Harvard sign on Harvard University campus in Boston, on May 27, 2025.
Rick Friedman/AFP through Getty Images
The interim director of the United States immigration and customs control issued a letter on Thursday that gave school 30 days to challenge the revocation of administration certification to register international students.
DHS officials have said that the revocation was necessary because Harvard could not deliver information about international students, including disciplinary records, as requested by the Trump administration.
The school said in a lawsuit against the Trump administration that DHS’s actions were “a clear retaliation by Harvard exercising their rights of the first amendment to reject the government’s demands to control governance, the curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.”
The Trump administration has already frozen more than $ 3 billion in federal funds for Harvard and plans to cancel the remaining federal contracts for an estimated value of $ 100 million. President Donald Trump has also expressed interest in revoking the exempt taxes of the University.
Fangzhou Jiang is studying under a student visa and has a semester before graduating from the Harvard Kennedy Government School.
ABC News
Tensions intensified more on Wednesday when Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that officials would begin to “aggressively revoke” the visas of some Chinese students, which caused new concerns among the international student community.
“Everyone wonders about the plan for next year, whether we must take an absence permit, if we must return home and finish our online semester, or expect more guidance,” said Jiang, who serves as vice president of student government in family matters.
For Harvard, where international students understand more than a Student roomAccording to the university, the impact could be significant. Jiang emphasized that international students perform crucial roles on campus, from carrying out academic research to facilitating cultural exchanges.
“Eliminating Harvard’s international students will not really turn Harvard into the Harvard that has been during the last 400 years,” Jiang said. “Harvard has the amount of perspectives.
Jiang said that although the university has promised to protect international students through legal actions and other media, the specific orientation for the next academic year is not clear. According to experiences during Covid-19 pandemic, Jiang remains optimistic that online learning options could provide a solution if necessary.
“The school has promised to protect international students in any capacity,” Jiang said. “I’m still sure that the university can provide measures to help us finish our education in Harvard.”
Harvard University said in a statement to ABC News: “Today’s judicial decision allows the University to continue to register international students and academics while the case progresses. Harvard will continue to take measures to protect the rights of our international students and academics, members of our community that are vital for the academic mission and the community of the university, and whose presence here benefits our country uselessly.”
