Trump Blocks Harvard Study Abroad... Will the Ban Spread Across U.S. Universities? [AK Radio]

International Students Forced to Abandon Summer Visits Home
Concerns Grow Over Crackdown on Progressive Figures at U.S. Universities

The Trump administration's all-out pressure campaign targeting Harvard University is causing significant confusion among international students worldwide. While the official justification is concerns over links to the Chinese Communist Party, most analysts believe the real motivation is a political offensive against Harvard's progressive leanings and the university's response to anti-Semitic protests.

Over the past several weeks, the Trump administration has attempted three times to block international student enrollment at Harvard and to revoke student visas, but each attempt was halted by rulings from U.S. federal courts. Nevertheless, the situation remains highly unstable, and policies could change at any moment depending on the courts' final decisions. Currently, Harvard has about 6,800 international students enrolled, including 430 students from South Korea, which accounts for 5% of all foreign students?a significant proportion. These students are expressing extreme anxiety due to the abrupt policy shifts.

In particular, most international students who had planned to return to South Korea during the summer break to visit family have abandoned their plans. They fear that if they leave for Korea, their visas could be canceled and they may not be able to return to the United States. The U.S. State Department has announced that, for Harvard students, the Secretary of State can decide at any time whether to revoke visas, further heightening students' concerns.

The Trump administration's stated justification is that Harvard is serving as a "party school" for cultivating senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party. In fact, the U.S. State Department announced last month that it had launched an investigation into alleged violations of sanctions against China by Harvard. Specifically, the Trump administration claims that Harvard's annual financial education and training programs for health insurance are subsidized by China, and that many Chinese political figures?who are on the U.S. Treasury Department's sanctions list?have participated in these programs.

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Additionally, the administration is citing the 2021 case of Charles Lieber, a Harvard nanoscience professor, who was found guilty for failing to report research funding received from China's "Thousand Talents Plan" and subsequently moved to a professorship at Tsinghua University in China. Using these cases as evidence, the Trump administration is raising suspicions of deliberate talent poaching and espionage activities by China.

In reality, Chinese students make up 20% of all international students at Harvard, the largest proportion from a single country. However, Harvard has been openly confronting the Trump administration's anti-China stance, most notably by selecting a Chinese female international student as the commencement speaker at a recent graduation ceremony.

Experts, however, argue that the Trump administration's true objective lies elsewhere. The issue of Chinese students is merely a pretext; the real intention is to undermine Harvard's financial foundation and purge left-wing, anti-Semitic figures. In fact, the Trump administration has announced not only a ban on student visas but also the complete elimination of $9 billion (approximately 13 trillion won) in federal funding previously allocated to Harvard and its affiliates. This move appears to be based on the perception that Harvard has served as a hotbed for anti-Semitic protests following the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Among Trump supporters, Harvard is widely viewed as the epicenter of progressivism linked to the Democratic Party. As a result, analysts believe President Trump is targeting Harvard first to satisfy his base and to pressure other Ivy League universities to distance themselves from progressive figures.

Shinhwa Yonhap News

Even within the Republican Party, there is fierce debate over whether such policies actually serve the national interest. America's Ivy League universities are key institutions of U.S. soft power and powerful symbols that attract talented individuals from around the world who dream of the American Dream. There is growing skepticism about whether it is right to damage such assets for political or ideological reasons.

Reports have already emerged that many international students are changing their study-abroad destinations from the United States to European or even Chinese universities. Ironically, this situation is turning into an unexpected opportunity for countries in Asia, including South Korea, that have been concerned about talent outflow. Countries such as India and Japan, which have traditionally sent large numbers of students to the United States, are now developing various programs to attract these students to their own domestic universities. Korean universities, too, are joining the competition by offering scholarships and grants to students and professors who are now hesitant to study or work abroad.

President Trump recently stated that, as U.S.-China trade negotiations are progressing well, he may once again allow Chinese students to study in the United States. However, as with his tariff policies, President Trump's statements and policies continue to fluctuate, undermining trust. If this backlash continues to intensify, there are concerns that the administration's university blockade policy could ultimately alienate or significantly erode its own support base. Consequently, there is speculation that another policy reversal may be on the horizon.

For now, U.S. federal courts continue to block the Trump administration's efforts, suggesting that things may not proceed as he intends. However, it remains to be seen how this conflict between academic freedom and national security will ultimately be resolved.