Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers ripped the Trump administration for taking away Harvard’s ability to enroll international students Thursday, declaring that the action is not consistent with the way democracies operate: “This is the stuff of tyranny.”
In an interview with “Bloomberg: The China Show,” Summers, a professor and president emeritus at Harvard, said the university has a “clear necessity” to resist the administration’s latest punitive action.
“This is the stuff of tyranny,” he said. “If an institution like Harvard with a $52 billion endowment, with the staggering of network of alumni that we have, if it can’t resist these kinds of movements towards tyranny, I don’t know what other American institutions will be able to do that.”
Summers said the step pursued by the administration was “vicious,” adding that it’s not reflective of how democracies like the U.S. should operate.
“If I had been a member of an administration where such unlawful orders had come from the White House, I would have resigned immediately,” Summers added.
While Summers said there are necessary reforms for Harvard to make, punishing foreign students is not the appropriate way to address any potential issues the administration has with the institution.
The “United States won World War II because of people who came to be at American universities,” he told Bloomberg. “Why is cutting off that kind of interchange sensible for our economy or for our national security?”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Thursday wrote to Harvard, announcing that her department was revoking the university’s Student and Exchange Visit Program, barring it from enrolling foreign students, which currently make up about over a quarter of its student body, starting this upcoming academic year. Noem said current international students would have to transfer to another university to retain their visas.
“Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump Administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of anti-Americanism and antisemitism in society and campuses,” she wrote.
Less than 24 hours later, Harvard filed a lawsuit on Friday, challenging the action as unconstitutional.
This “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams,” its president, Alan Gerber, wrote.
The move would significantly impact Harvard’s bottom line and also have other far-reaching effects, including potentially decimating its sports teams.
The Ivy League school was already entangled in a legal battle with the White House over federal funding cuts. The administration recently cut $450 million in grants for the university after slashing over $2 billion in federal funding Harvard expected to received, while President Donald Trump has also said he will revoke its tax-exempt status.
Since his reelection, Trump has waged war on institutions across the country, including elite universities, under the pretext of fighting antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion practices.
Summers said the government’s punishment of Harvard could deter foreign students from pursuing an education in the U.S., calling it a “devastating, self-inflicted wound.”
“I think we are doing our very best as a country to help British higher education, Australian higher education, New Zealand higher education,” he said.
Still, Noem seemed unfazed by such concerns, noting that Thursday’s action was only the beginning.