Fri, May 30, 2025 page2

• Harvard ban ‘upended’ life, Taiwanese student says

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  A Taiwanese doctoral student in the US said that the government’s order last week to pause the enrollment of international students at Harvard University has upended his life.

  Wayne Chan (詹偉平), a doctoral student in Harvard’s Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, said that the order affects not only potential international students, but also those who hold exchange visitor visas and academic F-1 visas.

  “This includes those who earned bachelor’s or master’s degrees after 2024, and PhDs after 2023,” who are on optional practical training or academic training after graduation, he said.

  

  A Graduate School of Arts and Sciences flag on Harvard University’s campus in Cambridge, US, is pictured on April 16.

  Photo: Bloomberg

  It also affects “a wide range of international scholars on J visas, such as postdoctoral researchers and exchange visitors,” Chan said.

  He was referring to an order issued on Thursday last week by the administration of US President Donald Trump, blocking Harvard University from enrolling new international students.

  The order revoked Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, after the university refused to comply with the administration’s demand that it provide detailed records of its student body, as part of an investigation by the US Department of Homeland Security.

  The investigation followed accusations that Harvard “has created an unsafe campus environment by permitting anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators to harass and physically assault individuals, including many Jewish students, and otherwise obstruct its once-venerable learning environment.”

  In a release, the department quoted US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem as saying: “This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, anti-Semitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] on its campus.”

  The order was temporarily suspended after Harvard filed a lawsuit against the administration. Last week, Boston Judge Allison Burroughs issued an order blocking the move to strip Harvard of its ability to enroll foreign students.

  The order was based on the grounds that the university “will sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties,” she said.

  However, Chan said some damage has already been done, due to uncertainties over the university’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program, and the status of student visas holders.

  “It’s hard to have confidence that this temporary block is the end of it,” Chan said. “No one knows what new challenges we may face next.”

  He said the uncertainty has been “extremely disruptive,” not just for him, but also for his family.

  “Imagine being told you need to move your entire family to another country, like Japan, within a month — that’s the kind of stress many of us are under,” Chan said.

  “I haven’t been able to concentrate on my work, because I’ve had to spend time creating contingency plans for myself and my family,” he said.

  Asked whether he had witnessed any acts of anti-Semitism or coordination with the CCP, Chan said he had not.

  However, there has been “a lot of financial support from China,” Chan said without elaborating.

  “While there are many Chinese students, most of those I know are not supportive of the CCP, though they often avoid expressing this publicly,” he added.

  People at Harvard usually speak out on a wide range of issues, but some refrain from publicly expressing their views on certain issues, Chan said.

  “For international scholars, participating in protests is a deeply personal and complicated decision,” he said. “Some feel it’s their responsibility as a human; others worry about creating conflict in their host country.”

  As a foreigner, Chan said it was not his place to speculate on the political motivations behind the US government’s move to bar Harvard from enrolling international students and its decision to also take aim at other universities.

  “Perhaps these moves are intended to protect national security,” Chan said. “But in actual fact, they’ve created chaos and instability in daily life — so much so that they’re pushing many of us to consider leaving the US.”
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