Trump Tries to Break Harvard: Only American Students Allowed

Summary

Bulwark Takes: Detailed Summary of "Trump Tries to Break Harvard: Only American Students Allowed"

Episode Title: Trump Tries to Break Harvard: Only American Students Allowed
Host/Authors: Sam Stein and JVL (Editor of The Bulwark)
Release Date: May 22, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Bulwark Takes, hosts Sam Stein and JVL delve into a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard University. The discussion centers on the administration's recent attempts to restrict international student enrollment at Harvard, a move perceived as part of a broader strategy to undermine elite academic institutions in the United States.

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The Trump Administration's Strategy Against Harvard

Economic and Regulatory Pressures

JVL outlines the Trump administration's multifaceted approach to exert pressure on Harvard:

• Economic Leverage: The administration aims to control Harvard's financial resources by threatening funding and grants. JVL explains, “The Trump administration has basically said we want to own Harvard. We want to be the shadow hand that makes all decisions at Harvard” (00:31).

• Regulatory Oversight: There's a push for extensive oversight over Harvard's operations, including admissions, hiring, and curriculum decisions. The administration demands transparency in undergraduate courses and research activities, using this as leverage to influence university policies.

• Threats to Tax-Exempt Status: When previous attempts to control Harvard through funding and grants failed, the administration escalated by threatening to revoke the university's tax-exempt status.

Focus on International Students

The latest tactic involves targeting Harvard's international student population:

• Economic Impact: International students pay full tuition, contributing significantly to Harvard's revenue. JVL notes, “Foreign students at the university level pay full price tuition. ... What that does is it allows them to give financial aid to American students” (02:21).

• Admissions Restrictions: By attempting to restrict Harvard's ability to enroll international students, the administration aims to financially strain the institution, leveraging the dependence on these tuition fees.

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Harvard's Vulnerability and Resilience

Financial Robustness

Sam Stein provides data highlighting Harvard's strong financial position:

• Growth in International Enrollment: The percentage of international students at Harvard increased from 19.6% in 2006 to 27.2% in 2025, growing from 3,940 to 6,993 students (02:21).

• Endowment Strength: Despite the administration's threats, Harvard's substantial endowment and resources position it to withstand financial pressures, with JVL affirming, “I don't think Harvard can be broken. I think really simply too big” (08:32).

Legal and Institutional Defiance

• Potential Legal Battles: Harvard is expected to challenge the administration's actions in court. JVL anticipates, “The challenging court. And this is the question is, do the courts break?” (09:26).

• Institutional Integrity: Both hosts emphasize Harvard's commitment to maintaining its autonomy and reputation, suggesting the university will resist the administration's attempts to control its affairs.

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Implications for International Students and American Academia

Barriers to Global Talent

Sam Stein discusses the broader implications of restricting international students:

• Loss of Talent: Limiting access for international students undermines America's ability to attract top global talent, which is vital for scientific research and innovation.

• Economic Consequences: The reduction in international tuition revenue could impact financial aid availability for American students, potentially diminishing educational opportunities domestically.

Climate for Academic Excellence

• Deteriorating Reputation: The administration's actions contribute to a negative perception of the U.S. as an inviting destination for scholars, potentially driving talent to institutions abroad.

• Long-Term Impact: Stein warns of profound long-term effects on American academia, stating, “We're ruining that. And I think that has a very profound impact for not just like next year, but for five, 10, 15 years down the road” (05:38).

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Potential Outcomes and Future Scenarios

Escalation of Tactics

JVL speculates on possible further escalations by the Trump administration:

• Selective Enforcement: The administration might target children of prominent Trump supporters or those involved in controversial research, creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among international students.

• Broad Institutional Pressure: If successful in breaking Harvard, the administration could apply similar tactics to other universities, threatening the stability of American higher education as a whole.

Judicial Intervention

• Court Decisions: The outcome hinges on whether courts will support Harvard's resistance or uphold the administration's restrictive measures. JVL remarks, “That's the real question, what if the courts let the administration do this?” (10:13).

• Institutional Survival: Regardless of court outcomes, Harvard's immense resources and institutional strength suggest it will continue to stand firm against administrative pressures.

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Conclusion

Sam Stein and JVL conclude the episode by underscoring the significance of the Trump administration's attempts to undermine Harvard University. They highlight the potential ramifications for international student enrollment, the financial health of elite institutions, and the broader landscape of American higher education. The hosts express concern over the long-term impact on the United States' ability to attract and retain global talent, emphasizing the need for certainty and stability in academic institutions.

Notable Quotes:

• JVL on economic threats: “We want to own Harvard. We want to be the shadow hand that makes all decisions at Harvard” (00:31).
• Sam Stein on long-term impacts: “We're ruining that... for five, 10, 15 years down the road” (05:38).
• JVL on Harvard's resilience: “I don't think Harvard can be broken. I think really simply too big” (08:32).

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This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the full podcast.

Transcript

[Sam Stein]

Hey guys, it's me, Sam Stein, managing editor at the Bulwark. I'm joined by jvl, editor of the publication. We are going to be talking about some breaking news that just happened. Pretty wild stuff. It looks like the Trump administration is moving to restrict international students from going to Harvard University. A real escalation in the war between the administration and the university. Before we get to that, subscribe to the feed. We appreciate your subscriptions. We welcome international students and viewers. All right, jvl, we are your first reactions to this.

[JVL]

It's a really big deal. It is a continuing attempt to threaten the economics of Harvard. I mean, the Trump administration has basically said we want to own Harvard. We want to be the shadow hand that makes all decisions at Harvard. They want help. They would like to have guidance over who Harvard lets in, who Harvard rejects, who Harvard hires, what teachers are hired at Harvard and what they teach. And to impose this, what they've said is like, anywhere that Harvard touches the government, we are going to use that as leverage against you. And so this is grants and funding. Harvard's a gigantic institution, right? I mean, there are grants coming into biomedical research being done in Harvard. And what the Trump administration said is we want to know what your undergraduate courses are. And if you don't tell us that or you don't allow us to have veto power over your undergrad course offerings, then we will not say, fund this research study going over on some other part of campus when that hasn't worked. They have threatened with removing tax exempt status for the entire institution. And where that has not worked, they are now attacking Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students. And the reason this matters is because foreign students at the university level pay full freight. And this is true no matter where you are, whether it's your community college, state school, Ivy League school. If you're a foreign student, you're paying full price tuition. And that not at Harvard, but at other schools. What that does is it allows them to give financial aid to American students.

[Sam Stein]

Just for some data points, the number of international students that are attending Harvard has gone up significantly since 2006. Back then it was about a 19.6% of the total enrollment were made up of international students. That was about 3,940. In 2024, 2025, that number had gone up to 6,993, which was roughly 27.2% of total enrollment. Now that's, you know, that's a lot. That's not nothing. And if they're playing full tuition, that's a sizable chunk, but Harvard's got a huge endowment. People who look at the Harvard endowment say, well, they can get by with that, and certainly they can fill some of these slots. There's plenty of people who want to go to Harvard who are not the. They're going to have to cut slots. So how significant is this from a financial perspective?

[JVL]

So none of this is from Harvard's perspective. They're going to be fine. And this is, as you say, I mean, Harvard could. Harvard is one of a handful of schools that could simply make tuition free for everybody and still be absolutely economically viable. There's even been movements to do that at Harvard and some of the other top schools. But you have to understand. So this is all part of, again, Trump's administration's attempts to break Harvard. So this follows what happened in April was Trump demanded to have a series of document dumps from Harvard about their foreign students. And so they wanted to. They wanted to know what courses these students were taking. They wanted Harvard to report their activities. I mean, really, it is like the lives of others. You know, like, the Trump administration wanted Harvard to be reporting on their students in order to finger who are the good ones and who are the bad ones? Bad ones being anybody whose politics they don't like, for instance. And Harvard resisted this, and that is why. And so because Harvard wouldn't inform on their own students, Trump has just said, okay, well, then you can't have any foreign students enrolled at all.

[Sam Stein]

I'm probably pushing my boundaries here, but what does the immigration law actually say about the government's ability to say, yeah, I'm sure we can restrict visas, but are they allowed to just sort of pinpoint what institutions are allowed to use and get student visa recipients? I don't know.

[JVL]

We're going to find out.

[Sam Stein]

Exactly. Harvard does have some lawyers who I think will fight this one. The thing that strikes me is, you know, obviously it's. It's about Harvard specifically, but it's just continuing this whole notion of, like, we're really just destroying our academic institutions and science in America. I mean, if you are a domestic, a US Citizen who, who wants to go to school and study science and go into that field, they've really sapped some of the opportunities for that by just restricting the amount of federal money that's available for grants. Now, if you're an international student who has real promise in scientific research or any of the postgrads or anything like that, medical research, you're now restricted from going to at least one of these major Universities, the major university of America. The idea that this country is going to be a inviting climate for some of the best and brightest is far fetched. We're ruining that. And I think that has a very profound impact for not just like next year, but for five, 10, 15 years down the road. Because you need that certainty.

[JVL]

Yeah. I mean, why wouldn't you? If you were a smart kid from South Korea or from Brazil or any other place, why wouldn't you just go to Cambridge? You want a career in the West? Yeah. You want a career in the west, like, you know, you go do your research someplace else. Now you don't want to go to a country where who knows what will happen to you. Right. You get nabbed off the street, you could be there perfectly legally, and then America could in secret change your legal status instead of telling you you got to go home. They could just again, literally grab you off the street. Maybe get shot during the arrest or not, who knows? Right.

[Sam Stein]

Or you write an op ed that they don't like on some sort of geopolitical issue.

[JVL]

Right. And you don't know where the lines are. Yeah. That's the other thing. Right. I mean, nobody is certain. It's not like, you know, hey, you can go to America, just don't break any laws because it's not even about law breaking. Right. Nobody knows what the, what the lines are which get you in trouble. It's really bad. I am interested, Sam. Why do you think the Trump administration picked on Harvard? Because I gotta say, they were very smart in how they attacked the law firms. Right. Like go after Paul Weiss. Was, was smart. I think they understood that there is a level at which with elite law firms, you can find the people who are weak, you can hurt them, and then that'll make it easier to roll the stronger firms as you go on.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah.

[JVL]

At the university level, like Columbia is, is sort of, you know, the sick, the sick Impala in the. But Harvard is like, I don't know, like I gotta think that Harvard is the last institution that would crack.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah. Harvard's a little too precious of the reputation to crack. Right. They don't want to be seen that way. My sense is probably that they thought that if you can break Harvard, then everyone else would fall in line. And so you go for it. Right. And the report and the contemporaneous reporting on it was that they accidentally sent the demand letters like they hadn't fully cleared it. And like they went for some pretty far reaching demands, as you articulated. And Harvard was just in an impossible Situation. They said no. And now you have a situation, frankly, where, you know, this administration would never back down. It's just not in their MO and so they have to constantly escalate. I think you wrote a column about this, about how you always up the ante until, like, you just. Basically, the person on the other side of the table says, I can't play anymore. Right. Like, that's, that's the situation here. And I am curious, if Harvard has a breaking point, what would it be? I mean, this is pretty bad, honestly, but I don't know if this is where they break. At some point, though, there must be a breaking point.

[JVL]

So here's the thing. I don't think Harvard can be broken. I think really simply too big.

[Sam Stein]

Too big to break.

[JVL]

I mean, it's, it's such a. I mean, honestly, if Harvard lost its tax exempt status, it would be fine. It would be, you know, the most significant employer in the state of Massachusetts. I mean, the amount of power it has, the amount of resources it has, it, it, it's like picking a fight with General Motors in 1960 or something, you know, like, it's just, it's just too big. Yeah. And I, it just seems like the first really significant strategic error from the Trump administration's attempt to break civil society. I think they've been very smart in everything else they've done, and I, I just think they misjudged what Harvard's, Harvard's resources and powers are.

[Sam Stein]

How do you think, how do you think Harvard responds to this one? Obviously, they're going to challenge it in court, right?

[JVL]

The challenging court.

[Sam Stein]

Yeah, yeah.

[JVL]

And this is the question is, do the courts break? And maybe that's the gamble, right? Maybe Trump's. Maybe the Trump administration's gamble was this will ultimately be decided by courts. And if we're rolling the dice on that anyway, why not roll the dice on the biggest gorilla?

[Sam Stein]

So you could see, you could see a situation where they play a little bit dirty, right? And they say, okay, we're not going to accept any of the kids of prominent Trump supporters. We're not going to take any. You have a Cabinet official who wants, whose kid wants them, you know, enroll here. Good luck. I mean, that would be the real dirty pool. But I don't know.

[JVL]

They won't do that.

[Sam Stein]

They won't do that. I'm just imagining a future in which it really escalates into nasty.

[JVL]

But, but that's the real question. What if the courts. What if the courts let the administration do this?

[Sam Stein]

They might.

[JVL]

That's the real question, right? Because then, I mean, Harvard's not breaking. Like, you know, if, if Harvard has to take that on the chin, they'll take that on the chin. I still don't think they'll fold. But then the next, you know, there'll be more pressure against it. And if the, if the Trump administration is able to break Harvard, then literally no university in America is safe.

[Sam Stein]

Oh, yeah, no, this is it. Like, you can't, this is the biggest, the, the most well funded university, and it sets the tone for everyone else. And I say that as a Dartmouth graduate, as much as that pains me. All right, man. Thank you for doing this. Appreciate it. We'll be following the story. Thank you guys for watching. Appreciate that. Subscribe to the feed. Tell everyone about it. Talk to you soon.