President Donald J. Trump sent the strongest possible message to America’s elitist institutions: their days of harboring antisemitism and using DEI standards to hire faculty and admit students without consequence are over. 

In a move that should have happened years ago, the Trump administration has suspended Harvard University’s ability to enroll new international students. That is a staggering penalty for a university that once prided itself as a global beacon of academic excellence. But when a university becomes a haven for antisemitic and anti-American hate from foreign students, those privileges must be revoked. 

This is not about politics. It is about defending the Judeo-Christian values in which our nation was founded. For too long, Harvard has turned a blind eye to vile chants calling for an intifada, tolerated faculty who glorified terrorism, and cowered behind “academic freedom” while earning the lowest free speech rating of any college in the nation. At the same time, Jewish students were harassed, doxxed, and physically intimidated. This was not a one-off incident. Antisemitism, anti-Christian and anti-conservative harassment, and civil rights violations have been rippling through higher education for decades now. Enough is enough. 

President Trump understands what too many university presidents do not: this violence and these violations are not public relations issues. They are a moral emergency. And if institutions will not police themselves, the government has a duty to step in. 

Harvard’s response has been pathetic, crying foul and calling the decision “unlawful.” Spare us the crocodile tears. What is unlawful is allowing foreign-funded campus groups to openly call for the destruction and murder of Americans and Israelis without consequence. 

Let us be crystal clear: this did not come out of nowhere. This action follows a pattern of noncompliance and contempt from Harvard toward federal oversight, particularly around campus safety and foreign influence. It is about time someone had the spine to say that schools do not get to play by a different set of rules just because they have an Ivy League name, mainly when you are being funded to the teeth by the federal government (via taxpayer dollars) and sitting on a 53.2 billion dollar endowment. 

The numbers speak for themselves. Antisemitic incidents on campus have skyrocketed since October 7, 2023, many of them committed in broad daylight, proudly recorded and often cheered on by fellow students. And yet, administrators hide behind the notion of “free speech” while doing next to nothing. What they are protecting is not the First Amendment but their radical donor base and ideological allies.

President Trump’s executive orders on antisemitism and DEI give federal agencies real teeth to go after institutions that violate civil rights law under the guise of activism. And now, with Harvard’s international enrollment halted, the rest of academia is on notice: clean up your act or face the consequences. Are you paying attention, MIT, Yale, Princeton, or Vanderbilt? 

This is not about punishing students. It is about punishing institutions that enable hate. If Harvard wants to welcome international students again, they can start by firing administrators who hire based on DEI, cutting professors who glorify Hamas and support violent gatherings of any kind, and implementing fundamental reforms that ensure all students can learn without fear. 

To the critics screaming about “government overreach,” where were you when Jewish students were being hunted in libraries? Where was your outrage when mobs shut down Jewish speakers and stormed university buildings waving Hezbollah flags? 

President Trump has made it clear he will not stand by while America’s oldest universities devolve further into breeding grounds for hate, especially hate against Jewish, Christian, and conservative students. These institutions urgently need to return to their Judeo-Christian values and start treating all students equally. Christian settlers founded Harvard, and their original motto was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae (“Truth for Christ and the Church”). 

Today, Harvard has replaced truth with virtue signaling, segregation, and selective violence. This replacement must be condemned and reversed. 

Until then, Harvard must be isolated. They chose this path. They made their bed. Now, they can lie in it alone and without the privilege of international prestige until they prove they deserve it again. 

Dr. Isaiah Hankel is the CEO of Overqualified.com and a 3X Best-Selling Author.