US President Donald Trump has called for disclosing the “names and countries” of all international students enrolled at Harvard University, marking the latest escalation in his administration’s long-running feud with the Ivy League institution. Trump made the demand in a post on Truth Social on May 25, just days after a federal judge blocked an attempt by the Trump administration to bar Harvard from enrolling international students on U.S. student visas.
“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,” Trump wrote. “We want those names and countries.”
Trump did not specify which federal agency would handle such a database or what the information would be used for.
The post follows a letter from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to Harvard officials, informing them that the university’s participation in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program was being terminated immediately.
In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit, accusing the administration of a “blatant violation” of the First Amendment and 14th Amendment, which protect free speech and guarantee due process. On May 23, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee, issued a temporary order siding with Harvard and halting the administration’s move.
Harvard has frequently found itself targeted by Trump during his second term in office. Federal agencies under his leadership have scrutinised the university’s approach to antisemitism, as well as its support for diversity and inclusion initiatives, which Trump officials claim foster discrimination.
Meanwhile, former Harvard President Lawrence Summers said the clash with Trump reflects a deeper ideological confrontation.
“If Harvard, America’s richest university, America’s university that produced the most presidents, couldn’t stand up, nobody else could,” Summers said.
He added that Trump’s actions appear aimed not at reform but at weakening the institution:
“The laws say you have to have hearings. The laws say you have to give notice. The laws don’t say you can engage in extortion. And when you simply cut off all funding based on a set of conditions, that’s extortion.”
While Summers acknowledged that Harvard has struggled with issues such as antisemitism and an overemphasis on identity politics, he suggested Trump’s approach is not a good-faith effort to fix the problems, but rather a strategy to make the university “bend the knee.”
Trump’s demand for a list of all foreign students at Harvard has raised concerns among privacy advocates and legal scholars. It remains unclear whether the administration has legal authority to compel such disclosure, especially in light of student privacy protections under federal law.
As of now, the White House and Department of Homeland Security have not provided further clarification on how they plan to proceed following the court ruling.
