Prestigious Universities Pressured: Exclusion of Foreign Students Will Be a Self-Inflicted Loss for U.S.

Editorial

14:00 JST, May 24, 2025

Prestigious U.S. universities, where elite talented people gather from around the world, should be assets for the country and a source of national pride. Does U.S. President Donald Trump intend to destroy them through unjust pressure?

The Trump administration announced that it will revoke the national certification required for Harvard University to accept foreign students. The university will no longer be able to accept new foreign students, and current international students will lose their status to stay in the United States unless they transfer to another university.

Harvard University is one of the top universities not only in the United States but also in the world. It accepts students and researchers from more than 140 countries and regions, including 260 Japanese students this school year.

Regarding the latest measure, the U.S. Homeland Security Department issued a statement saying, “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country,” suggesting the possibility of imposing the same measure on other universities in the future. It is inevitable that uneasiness and anxiety will spread across the country.

The administration cited Harvard University’s allowing the promotion of “antisemitism” on campus and its acceptance of individuals associated with the Chinese Communist Party who have been involved in the suppression of ethnic minorities, as reasons for banning the admission of foreign students.

It is a fact that protests have erupted at U.S. universities as criticism and backlash spread in response to Israel’s military attacks on the Palestinian territory of Gaza, which have gone far beyond the scope of self-defense.

However, American students are also participating in these protest demonstrations, so it is illogical to exclude only foreign students. If ties with Chinese Communist Party are judged as a problem, then individual cases should be dealt with separately, and targeting all foreign students is clearly excessive.

Since March, Trump has frozen subsidies for prestigious universities on the ground that their measures against antisemitism are insufficient, and he has demanded that students involved in the protest demonstrations be punished. Harvard University refused to comply and instead sued the Trump administration, which is believed to have angered Trump.

Harvard and other prestigious universities are strongly influenced by liberal forces such as the Democratic Party. By targeting universities, Trump is likely trying to win the favor of white workers who harbor resentment toward intellectuals and the elite classes.

Diplomacy to broker a ceasefire in the Ukraine war and high tariffs and other economic policies that have been pushed by Trump are all causing turmoil. It is concerning that Trump may strengthen his inward-looking tendencies, catering to some of his supporters ahead of the midterm elections in autumn next year.

Many top executives and researchers at world-leading U.S. companies have overseas study experience. If the exodus of talented people from the United States accelerates, the United States itself will inevitably suffer from this disadvantage.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 24, 2025)