Washington: US President Donald Trump said that there should be a cap of around 15 per cent on foreign students at Harvard University while continuing to pressure it to submit its list of foreign students.
“Harvard has to show us their lists, ” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “They have foreign students. About 31 per cent of their students are foreign-based. Almost 31 per cent. We want to know where those students come from. Are they troublemakers?”
Trump claimed that many of those students were troublemakers “caused by the radical left lunatics in this country.”
“I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15 per cent, not 31 per cent, we have people want to go to Harvard and other schools they can’t get in because we have foreign students there, ” he said.
After Trump returned to the White House, he has targeted many US universities, warning that those that do not adjust their policies will face funding cuts, reports Xinhua news agency.
The Trump administration’s main demands include eradicating antisemitism on campus and abolishing diversity initiatives that favour minority groups.
With billions of dollars in funding frozen, its tax-exempt status in jeopardy and multiple investigations underway, Harvard is facing an unprecedented crisis.
On May 22, the Department of Homeland Security announced the revocation of Harvard’s eligibility for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program — one of the latest moves by the Trump administration aimed at pressuring the university.
Harvard has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, and a federal judge in Massachusetts has temporarily blocked the ban, and a court hearing on the issue was scheduled for May 29. Previously, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the administration over federal funding cuts.
According to data from Harvard, as of fall 2023, international students made up more than 27 per cent of the total student population. Currently, Harvard enrols nearly 6, 800 international students and scholars from over 140 countries and regions, most of whom are pursuing graduate programs.
