'Problem With The University Is...': Trump On Harvard Fight
The US President went on to emphasise that the administration wants a list of the foreign students studying in Harvard, and that he will find out "whether or not they are okay".
United States President Donald Trump on Sunday defended the decision taken by his administration to block Harvard University's ability to enrol international students. He slammed the university for having 31 percent foreign students, which he said was "too much," especially when "no foreign government contributes money to Harvard".
He further said that the US government gives "billions of dollars" as grants to Harvard, whereas the university does not tell them "who the people from the foreign land are".
"Part of the problem with Harvard is they're about 31% foreigners coming to Harvard. We give them billions of dollars, which is ridiculous. We do grants, which we're probably not going to be doing many grants anymore to Harvard...They're at 31%, but they refuse to tell us who the people are. We want to know.... A lot of the foreign students we wouldn't have a problem with...I am not going to have a problem with foreign students, but it shouldn't be 31%, it's too much," Trump said.
The US President went on to emphasise that the administration wants a list of the foreign students studying in Harvard, and that he will find out "whether or not they are okay".
"Because, we have Americans who want to go there and other places and can't go there... No foreign government contributes money to Harvard. We do. So why are they doing so many? Number two, we want a list of those foreign students, and we'll find out whether or not they are okay. Many will be okay...and I assume with Harvard, many will be bad," he added.
#WATCH | New Jersey, US: On Harvard University, US President Donald Trump says, "Part of the problem with Harvard is they're about 31% foreigners coming to Harvard. We give them billions of dollars, which is ridiculous. We do grants, which we're probably not going to be doing… pic.twitter.com/CQn0kEjttl
— ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2025
Trump then went on to slam Harvard again for being "antisemitic," saying, "And then the other thing is they're very antisemitic, everybody knows they're antisemitic, and that's got to stop immediately".
In a post on Truth Social, Trump on Saturday has called out Harvard for ignoring his administration's requests for information about the foreign students.
"Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their student’s education, nor do they ever intend to. Nobody told us that!" he wrote.
Demanding the information of these students, he continued: "We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries. Harvard has $52,000,000, use it, and stop asking for the Federal Government to continue GRANTING money to you!"
These remarks by Trump come after his administration halted the university's ability to enrol international students, giving it 72 hours to submit the required information. However, a US court halted the attempt to withdraw the authorisation, interrupting Trump administration's efforts to align academic practices with the policies by Trump.
Harvard, meanwhile, has described the revocation as a "blatant violation" of the US constitution and even submitted a legal complaint in Boston federal court on Friday.
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