Harvard University shared information about its international students with the Department of Homeland Security, the university disclosed in a letter Wednesday. The news comes two weeks after the agency threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to host international students if the school did not submit details about students’ disciplinary records and protest participation.
“In our response, the University reiterated our steadfast commitment to sponsor the visas that facilitate our international students’ study at Harvard,” read the letter from Executive Vice President Meredith Weenick. She said the university made it “clear” that it doesn’t seek to withdraw from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
In her April 16 letter to Harvard, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asked the school to provide visa holders’ “known threats to other students or university personnel,” and any action related to students “making threats to other students or populations or participating in protests.” The university’s tax-exempt status and $2.2 billion in federal funding has been in jeopardy as well.
DHS didn’t respond to requests for comment on how it will use the information Harvard has provided, or what specific information the school shared. Harvard declined to answer further questions.
“Harvard’s complete opacity as to what they actually sent over, I think, is particularly troubling, because the letter itself went far beyond anything that’s required in the regulations,” said Alejandra Caraballo, a masters of public administration student at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Federal statute, specifically Title 8 of the U.S. code, requires schools to keep information on students’ criminal activity and any disciplinary action related to a crime. Caraballo said the Department of Homeland Security letter’s language was more ambiguous.
“Those [protests] could potentially rise to criminal activity, but most often don’t,” said Caraballo. “Even peaceful protests and peaceful views have otherwise been characterized as violent or otherwise threatening to other students.”
Harvard is legally required to respond to requests from DHS, said Clay Harmon, executive director of the Association of International Enrollment Management, a membership organization focused on recruiting and enrolling international students. Still, he said the information requested was a “departure from established norms,” and Harvard likely weighed the risks before responding.
Decertification and removal from the Student and Visitor Exchange Program “would pose real and immediate harm to thousands of members of Harvard’s community,” he said. Students would have needed to transfer to a different college, change their immigration status, or potentially leave the U.S.
“I think more broadly, this is an example of the current administration threatening institutional autonomy and even larger than that, the reputation of higher education in the United States as an independent and strong educational enterprise,” Harmon said.
“It seems to be a reversal from the resistance that they [Harvard] have demonstrated initially,” said Gerardo Blanco, associate professor and the academic director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. Blanco looked back at his time as a residence hall director and noted that disclosure of student records isn’t usually done, and student conduct, specifically, tend to be “the most confidential pieces of information,” under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, which outlines certain rights for parents regarding their children’s education records.
This request seems to go beyond “noise and disruption after hours,” said Blanco, and standard violations of student code of conduct. Harvard didn’t reply to a request for that code.
“I think this is just creating a very confusing and frankly, very scary environment for international students when it already is,” he said.
