President Donald Trump said on Friday that his government will remove Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, reports Reuters. “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s tax-exempt status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump said in a post on his social media platform.
As per another Reuter report, Uyghur human rights advocates are expressing their criticism of Harvard University for providing training to officials from a Chinese paramilitary organization that the US government has sanctioned for human rights violations, which include mass detention and forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as reported by Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Since taking office in January, Trump has targeted major U.S. institutions by withholding government money, conducting investigations, revoking student visas, and making other demands, claiming that higher education is dominated by antisemitic, anti-American, Marxist, and “radical left” views.
On Wednesday, Harvard said it had sent the Department of Homeland Security information about the criminal activity and disciplinary records of overseas students, as reported by The Harvard Crimson.
Nearly two weeks ago, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to cancel Harvard’s permission to host foreign students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program unless it shared information about the students, including records of their participation in protests.
On April 16, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the cancellation of two DHS grants totaling over $2.7 million to Harvard University, declaring it unfit to be entrusted with taxpayer dollars. This action follows President Donald J. Trump’s decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard University, proposing the revocation of its tax-exempt status over its radical ideology.
Furthermore, the Secretary issued a scathing letter threatening to remove Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification unless detailed information on the violent and unlawful conduct of foreign student visa holders was provided by April 30, 2025.
Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the law Noem highlighted in the letter, requires colleges to furnish the DHS with information on international students’ degree programs, course enrollment, grades, and academic status, including withdrawal, probation, suspension, or expulsion, upon request.