Court Temporarily Blocks Trump's Foreign Student Ban at Harvard

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00:00This marks the second lawsuit Harvard has launched against the government?

00:04It does. And I mean, this is a significant escalation of the Trump administration's

00:09attacks on Harvard and higher education in general. You know, they have not held back

00:14in criticizing a number of universities across the U.S., but no one has been harder hit than

00:18Harvard. And it's important just to appreciate, I mean, just the gravity of what a ban on

00:24international student enrollment would mean for Harvard. It's more than a quarter of their

00:28student population. You know, most international students do tend to pay full tuition, which is,

00:34of course, you know, this most significant driver of Harvard's revenue out way beyond what comes in

00:40from federal funding. And so, I mean, this would just have catastrophic effects on Harvard's ability

00:45to continue operating as it has been. And not to mention the knock on effects for the Massachusetts

00:50economy, which depends significantly on Harvard and its other top tier universities to create that

00:55talent pool that really attracts businesses to Massachusetts. And those students, you know,

01:01of course, contribute to the local economy here as well. Absolutely. This is a big, big story for

01:06you in Boston. You talk about Harvard and how it and other universities are a magnet for talent from

01:12around the world. But Harvard also in the Boston area, in the Cambridge area, it's a huge employer and

01:17it's also a huge landlord for other companies in the city. It is definitely. I mean, it's really,

01:23you know, integrated into the lifeblood of the Massachusetts economy. And, you know, like I said,

01:28those the businesses are attracted to the talent pool that comes out of those universities. But

01:33those students also go on to work at Massachusetts top tier hospitals and its research institutions,

01:38which themselves are facing financial squeeze from the Trump administration's cuts to funding

01:43through the NIH specifically and some of the other government agencies. And so you're really seeing

01:48a multifaceted attack on that sort of heads and meds. It's always been the bedrock of the

01:53Massachusetts economy. And, you know, the politicians here are very much having Harvard's back speaking

01:59out, you know, for Harvard, advocating for them in this fight against Trump. But their hands are somewhat

02:05tied in terms of their ability to protect the university. Right. And there's a lot of confusion on the

02:10ground as well. I know you and folks in your bureau have been reporting, speaking with international

02:14students. Share what you learned in talking to these students. Sure. I think confusion is the word.

02:22I mean, you know, we talked to a few people who, you know, were traveling at the time that the news

02:27came out in a foreign country and getting off the airplane to find out that this decision had been

02:33handed down by the Trump administration. And I think it's really destabilizing. If you think about,

02:38you know, international students who are returning and trying to figure out whether or not they will

02:43be able to do so, it's worth noting that Harvard's commencement is next week. It's on Thursday. And

02:48so we will see that those graduating seniors, you know, continue to be able to do so. But I think for

02:53the younger students, it's really a question mark right now. And as you mentioned, there was an

02:57injunction on this move by the Trump administration. And the question is, is that enough for some of these

03:02foreign students? Do they feel confident enough in Harvard's ability to prevail in this legal fight to

03:07continue with their matriculation? Or do they try to get ahead of it and look for transfer options?