U of T offers to host some Harvard international students amid Trump turmoil

International students facing possible visa restrictions amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Harvard University may have a back-up plan for returning to school in the fall — studying in Canada. 

The University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy says it will offer options for international graduate students planning to return to the John F. Kennedy School of Government, better known as Harvard Kennedy School, to continue their studies in this country.

The agreement, according to an announcement on the Munk School website, would allow the students to take courses from a mix of Kennedy School instructors, both online and in-person, as well as University of Toronto faculty. 

“We are announcing these contingency plans now to alleviate the uncertainty many students feel, but we will not officially launch these programs unless there is sufficient demand from students who are unable to come to the United States due to visa or entry restrictions,” Kennedy School Dean Jeremy Weinstein said in an email to students, The Boston Globe reported. 

The Trump administration has been at odds with Harvard for months after the university rejected government demands meant to address conservative complaints it had become too liberal and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment — though the demands have been widely derided as a move to silence pro-Palestinian rallies at university campuses across the U.S. 

Last month, the Trump administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students as part of a pressure campaign seeking changes to governance and policies at the Ivy League school in Cambridge, Mass.

Administration officials also have cut more than $2.6 billion US in research grants, ended federal contracts and threatened to revoke the tax-exempt status for the school Trump has derided as a hotbed of liberalism.

The university called it illegal retaliation for rejecting the White House’s demands to overhaul Harvard policies around campus protests, admissions, hiring and other issues.

Harvard sued the Department of Homeland Security in May after the agency withdrew the school’s certification to host foreign students and issue paperwork for their visas. The action would have forced Harvard’s roughly 7,000 foreign students to transfer or risk being in the U.S. illegally.

On Monday, a federal judge in Boston issued an order preserving the ability of foreign students to travel to the U.S. for study at Harvard while the case is decided.

Trump attacking freedom of thought, judge says

The latest injunction came Monday in response to another move from Trump, who cited a different legal justification when he issued a June 4 proclamation blocking foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard.

In her order, Judge Allison Burroughs said the case is about freedom of speech and freedom of thought.

“Here, the government’s misplaced efforts to control a reputable academic institution and squelch diverse viewpoints seemingly because they are, in some instances, opposed to this Administration’s own views, threaten these rights,” she wrote.

Burroughs issued a preliminary injunction last Friday allowing Harvard to continue to enrol international students for the time being. 

Trump posted on his Truth Social platform Friday that a deal with the university is possible and could be announced soon. 

“They have acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed to doing what is right,” he said. 

Plans in place but not locked in

There are two potential options for Kennedy School international students, who make up 59 per cent of the school’s population, with people hailing from nearly 100 countries and territories. 

Under the agreement with the Munk School, international students would be enrolled as “full-time, non-degree special students.” 

Upon completion of their studies, they will graduate with their Harvard master’s degree.

Students participating in the Kennedy School program at the Munk School are advised by the university to apply for a Canadian study permit by mid-July. 

Although the option to attend the Munk School is only open to returning students, the Kennedy School also has a second contingency plan that would allow new international students to keep studying at Harvard. 

That option, which would also be offered to returning students, would see the courses offered online, with three in-person meetings that would take place in cities elsewhere in the world over the course of the academic year.

But neither plan is a done deal. 

Not only are they dependent on demand, but they still need approval by the New England Commission of Higher Education. 

It’s unclear if other Harvard schools have reached agreements for their international students. 

But Harvard president Alan M. Garber assured international students earlier this month that plans were being developed.