Winning admission to Harvard University fulfilled a longtime goal for Yonas Nuguse, a student in Ethiopia who endured a war in the country\u2019s Tigray region, Internet and phone shutdowns, and the COVID-19 pandemic \u2014 all of which made it impossible to finish high school on time.
\nNow, it\u2019s unclear if he will make it this fall to the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and other admitted students around the world are anxiously tracking the school\u2019s feud with the Trump administration, which is seeking to keep it from enrolling international students.
\nOn Thursday, Harvard challenged President Donald Trump\u2019s latest move to bar foreign students from entering the US to attend the college, calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard\u2019s rejection of White House demands. In an amended lawsuit filed Thursday, Harvard said the president was attempting an end-run around a previous court order. Last month, a federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from revoking Harvard\u2019s certification to host foreign students.
\nAdmission to Harvard, then months of uncertainty
\nIncreasingly, the nation\u2019s oldest and best-known university has attracted some of the brightest minds from around the world, with international students accounting for one-quarter of its enrollment. As Harvard\u2019s fight with the administration plays out, foreign students can only wait to find out if they\u2019ll be able to attend the school at all. Some are weighing other options.
\nFor Nuguse, 21, the war in Ethiopia forced schools to close in many parts of the province. After schooling resumed, he then took a gap year to study and save money to pay for his TOEFL English proficiency test in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia\u2019s capital.
\n\u201cThe war affected me a great deal and when I found out the news that I was accepted to Harvard, I was ecstatic. I knew it was a proud moment for my family, teachers, mentors and friends, who were instrumental in my achievement,\u201d he said.
\nThe following months have been filled with uncertainty. On Wednesday, Trump signed a directive seeking to block US entry for Harvard\u2019s international students, which would block thousands who are scheduled to come to the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for summer and fall terms.
\nHarvard\u2019s court challenge a day later attacked Trump\u2019s legal justification for the action \u2014 a federal law allowing him to block a \u201cclass of aliens\u201d deemed detrimental to the nation\u2019s interests. Targeting only those who are coming to the US to study at Harvard doesn\u2019t qualify as a \u201cclass of aliens,\u201d Harvard said in its filing.
\n\u201cThe President\u2019s actions thus are not undertaken to protect the \u2018interests of the United States,\u2019 but instead to pursue a government vendetta against Harvard,\u201d the university wrote.
\nIn the meantime, Harvard is making contingency plans so students and visiting scholars can continue their work at the university, President Alan Garber said in a message to the campus and alumni.
\n\u201cEach of us is part of a truly global university community,\u201d Garber said Thursday. \u201cWe know that the benefits of bringing talented people together from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.\u201d
\nCrackdown on international students affects interest in the US
\nThe standoff with Harvard comes as the administration has been tightening scrutiny of student visas nationwide. Thousands of students around the country abruptly lost permission to be in the US this spring before the administration reversed itself, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week the US would \u201caggressively revoke\u201d visas for students from China.
\nWhile many admitted students say they\u2019re waiting to find out if they can come to the US, prospective students still in high school are starting to look elsewhere, said Mike Henniger, CEO of Illume Student Advisory Services.
\n\u201cIt is one blow after another,\u201d said Henniger, who works with colleges in the US, Canada and Europe to recruit international students. \u201cAt this point, international student interest in the US has basically dropped to nil.\u201d
\nThe future of Harvard\u2019s roughly 7,000 international students has been hanging in the balance since the Department of Homeland Security first moved to block its foreign enrollment on May 22.
\nFor many, the twists and turns have been exhausting. Jing, a 23-year-old master\u2019s student, is currently completing an internship in China this summer, and unsure if he can reenter the US for the fall semester.
\n\u201cIt is tiring, we all feel numb now. Trump just makes big news headlines once every few days since he got back to the White House,\u201d said Jing, who agreed to speak under his family name out of concern about retaliation from the Trump administration.
\nJing said he is going to watch and see what happens for now, in case the move against international students is a negotiating tactic that does not stick.
\nThe possibility that Trump could block foreign enrollment at other colleges only raises the uncertainty for students planning to pursue their education overseas, said Craig Riggs, who has been working in international education for about 30 years and is the editor of ICEF Monitor. He said he urges families to consult carefully with advisers and not to overreact to the day\u2019s headlines.
\n\u201cThe rules under which students would make this huge decision to devote years of their lives and quite a bit of money to studying at Harvard have been shown to change quite quickly,\u201d Riggs said.
\nAn aspiring economist, Nuguse was the only student accepted to Harvard this year from Kalamino Special High School, which caters to gifted students from underprivileged backgrounds from across Tigray.
\nAfter receiving acceptances also to Columbia University and Amherst College, Nuguse chose Harvard, which he had long dreamed of attending. He said he hopes it will work out to attend Harvard.
\nNuguse was granted a visa to study at Harvard, and he worries it might be too late to reverse his decision and attend another university anyway. He received an email from Harvard last week, telling him to proceed with his registration and highlighting a judge\u2019s order in Harvard\u2019s favor in the dispute over foreign enrollment.
\n\u201cI hope the situation is temporary and I can enroll on time to go on and realize my dream far from reality in Ethiopia,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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