Aotearoa-born Harvard student Samuel Taylor argues a US government crackdown threatens not just his visa, but the very ideals of academic freedom, global collaboration and free speech.
The American government’s decision last week to ban Harvard University from certifying visas for international students is a direct assault on academic freedom and integrity. It undermines the United States’ standing as the centre of global academic collaboration and innovation, and holds the futures of some of the brightest, most passionate young people in the world hostage.
This isn’t just political – it’s personal. I know, because I’m one of the international students whose future now hangs in the balance. When I was 11 or 12, on the opposite side of the world in Aotearoa New Zealand, I decided that I was going to go to Harvard. I’d heard that it was the best school in the world and I wanted to prove that I deserved to be there. From then on, I worked to turn my dream into a real goal – and I achieved it in 2019 when I was admitted to Harvard College to study political science and economics. Now, everything I worked for – everything thousands of international students have worked for – is at risk, through no fault of our own.
Earning a place at Harvard is the dream for many young people around the world. It takes dedication and sacrifice, offering an opportunity to change lives in return. Harvard is unique among American universities for charging international students the same tuition as domestic students and offering them equally generous financial aid. In exchange for giving international students this extraordinary opportunity, Harvard gets a student body enriched by our unique perspectives and insights that no American-only university could replicate.
All throughout Harvard, international students play a vital part in scientific and sociological discoveries that change the world. The government’s decision means, effective immediately, one of the most important research institutions in the world will be critically damaged. To justify its actions, the Trump administration has accused Harvard of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus” and “employ[ing] racist diversity, equity, and inclusion policies”.
On the basis of these accusations, the government has made sweeping demands – including access to private records and changes to university policies – that would effectively end free speech on campus. Complying would not only undermine Harvard’s academic integrity and violate international students’ constitutional and legal rights but also, given the government’s treatment of immigrants and international students recently, put us in real danger.
My peers aren’t violent antisemites or Chinese Communist Party spies, nor has Harvard made them so. They’re passionate, dedicated, gifted young people with the potential and the desire to change the world – and they’re being punished for it.
This conflict is bigger than Harvard, though. This administration is not only attacking our university, but every university in America. If the country’s oldest and wealthiest school can be bullied into submission – for daring to defy the president, and on the thinnest of pretexts – then no institution in America will be safe from arbitrary, authoritarian crackdowns on free speech. As long as this decision stands, no international student will ever feel secure in their place in the United States. The door will slam shut on bright, talented people who came from across the world in search of a better future – and who would have given back in return. The spirit of discovery that has defined the last century of American life will find a new home.
Harvard has challenged this decision in court, and while I’m hopeful that the courts will find in its favour, I’m not confident that we’ll be safe. I’m angry, and I’m upset, and I’m scared for my future and for the futures of my friends, peers and classmates whose lives have been thrown into uncertainty.
But this is about more than Harvard’s international students. It’s about the lives of every international student and scholar who comes to the United States in pursuit of a better life – and a better world. If this attack succeeds, it won’t just end our dreams – it will trample on the very values that make Harvard, institutions like it and the United States great: free speech, academic integrity, global collaboration and the pursuit of knowledge.
This is not just a fight for international students – it’s a fight for the principles that underpin education in America. We will not go quietly.
