BRUSSELS — Germany’s Federal Minister for Education and Research, Dorothee Bär, has voiced strong disapproval of a recent move by the Trump administration to revoke Harvard University’s ability to enrol foreign students, a development that may force thousands of international scholars to leave the institution.
Speaking to journalists upon arrival at a European Union ministerial meeting in Brussels on Friday, Bär characterised the U.S. decision as deeply troubling.
“This saddens me very much. That’s not a positive signal, neither for the
young generation nor for the free world,” she said, urging Washington to
reverse its position.
“I very much hope that the U.S. government will revoke this decision,
because it really is fatal.”
The dispute centres around accusations from the U.S. government that Harvard has become a hub for left-leaning political activism and anti-Semitic sentiment. President Donald Trump has criticised elite universities like Harvard for promoting ideological bias and failing to uphold values of academic neutrality.
On 11 April, the administration delivered a set of demands to the university, which it declined to implement. In response, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced a sweeping sanction on Thursday, revoking Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP) certification.
According to Noem, the measure was taken to penalise what she described as “pro-terrorist conduct” on campus, and to confront alleged collaboration with foreign political actors.
“We are holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, anti-Semitism,
and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” she said
in a public statement.
The revocation effectively bars the university from hosting international students under the federal SEVP framework. Those currently enrolled will be required to transfer to other accredited institutions in order to retain their visa status, or face the risk of deportation.
This latest escalation follows the Trump administration’s earlier decision to suspend over $2 billion in federal research funding and grants allocated to Harvard, further straining the university’s financial and academic operations.
European officials and education advocates have criticised the move as politically motivated and potentially damaging to global academic cooperation. Harvard University, one of the oldest and most prestigious academic institutions in the world, has yet to issue a formal public response to the SEVP decertification.