Why Is the White House Targeting International Students?
"In its fight with Harvard, the Trump administration has focused on international students, who are critical to universities’ bottom lines and campus life.
Student visas are a powerful tool the Trump administration can wield against universities, if federal judges allow it.
International students are critical to universities’ finances, since they are more likely to pay full tuition. They also enhance campuses academically.
In its fight with higher education, especially with Harvard, the White House has focused on these students. It has sought to deny Harvard’s ability to enroll any visa holders, who make up a quarter of the student body. And on Wednesday, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, announced that the administration would revoke visas for students who have ties to the Chinese Communist Party and would apply additional scrutiny to all future Chinese students who apply for visas.
There are roughly 275,000 Chinese students in the United States, about 20 percent of all student visa holders. India is the only nation that sends more students to the United States.
Admission to a leading American university is coveted by students and parents around the world, representing a key element of the nation’s cultural power.
But President Trump has said that fewer admission slots should be set aside for international students. The administration has argued that America’s elite colleges stifle conservative thought and coddle antisemites, with foreign students acting as “agitators.” It has cut off billions of federal dollars for research, and the Republican budget bill moving through Congress would raise taxes on elite universities’ endowments.
But Harvard and others say that the administration is attacking academic freedom in violation of the First Amendment, and that it has targeted universities where faculty, administrators and students have been critical of Mr. Trump’s policies.
Dana Goldstein covers education and families for The Times. "
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