TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Trump administration banned Harvard from accepting international students on Thursday, inciting panic among thousands of them who now have to look for alternative universities, as reported by CBS News.
This decision marks the latest escalation of the long-running standoff between the White House and the Ivy League university.
Leo Gerden, a senior student from Sweden who is scheduled to graduate next week, described the tense situation experienced by foreign students.
"Imagine being an incoming freshman. Now you're seeing the news and what is happening, and you might not even be able to come. It must be just heartbreaking," Gerden told WBZ-TV.
Gerden, who arrived at Harvard four years ago, admitted that the day he was accepted at Harvard was the happiest day of his life. However, now he feels sad to see the condition of the university he's leaving behind.
"People have been making new plans for the last couple of weeks," Gerden said. "Everyone's going to have to make a plan B if this goes through, but we're hoping that Harvard will fight for us."
Zilin Ma, a PhD student from China who is set to graduate this Saturday, said the students are still in "panic mode." After ten years of higher education in the United States, he is now facing an uncertain future.
"We are still waiting to see what is going to happen," said Ma, whose latest research at Harvard focuses on humanitarian negotiation support in developing countries.
Cornell William Brooks, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and former president of the NAACP, described this move as an unfounded attack in the name of xenophobia.
"We are literally rendering international students kind of intellectual pariah," Brooks said.
Massachusetts State Representative Tram Nguyen, a Harvard Kennedy School graduate from last year, denounced this decision as "un-American" and smelling of political reprisal. "It's not just an immigration issue. It's a First Amendment issue," Nguyen said.
According to Nguyen, this decision sends a message that talent is not welcome if it comes from abroad. Yet, as the Rep pointed out, the state of Massachusetts heavily relies on the contributions of foreign students and workers as economic drivers.
This ban is the culmination of a months-long standoff between the White House and Harvard sparked by a series of protests and demonstrations on campus. Previously, Harvard had already lost billions in federal funding.
A White House spokesperson stated that Harvard has had plenty of opportunities to address these protests, emphasizing that enrolling foreign students is a privilege, not a right.
Gerden rejects this view.
"Many international students come from very authoritarian countries, and they come because of democracy and because of all the freedoms you can enjoy in this country," Gerden said. "If that is taken away, then here is no university without academic freedom."
Data shows that one in four Harvard students come from abroad, making this decision massively impact the campus community.
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