“Harvard is not Harvard without its international students,”- Harvard

A U.S. judge on Friday temporarily halted the Trump administration from stripping Harvard University of its capacity to admit foreign students, a measure that the Ivy League institution described as part of President Donald Trump’s wider initiative to take action against it for not “yielding its academic independence.”

The ruling, which opens a new tab, offers temporary respite to numerous international students who were threatened with mandatory transfers due to a policy the university based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, labeled a “clear violation” of the U.S. Constitution and other federal regulations, asserting it would have an “immediate and catastrophic impact” on the institution and over 7,000 visa holders.

“Harvard is not Harvard without its international students,” stated the 389-year-old institution in its lawsuit, filed earlier on Friday in federal court in Boston. Harvard has registered almost 6,800 international students for the current academic year, which constitutes 27% of the overall enrollment.

The action represented the most recent intensification in the ongoing conflict between Harvard and the White House, as Trump aims to pressure universities, law firms, news outlets, courts, and other organizations that prioritize independence from political parties to conform to his objectives. Trump and other Republicans have consistently claimed that elite universities exhibit leftist bias.

Harvard has strongly opposed Trump, previously filing a lawsuit to recover almost $3 billion in federal grants that were either frozen or canceled. In the past few weeks, the administration has suggested revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status and increasing taxes on its endowment, while also initiating an inquiry into potential violations of civil rights laws.

Leo Gerden, a Swedish student who is graduating from Harvard with an undergraduate degree in economics and government this month, described the judge’s ruling as a “fantastic initial step” but mentioned that international students were preparing for a lengthy legal battle that would leave them in uncertainty.

“There is no single decision by Trump or by Harvard or by a judge that is going to put an end to this tyranny of what Trump is doing,” Gerden said.

In its complaint, Harvard said the revocation would force it to retract admissions for thousands of people, and has thrown “countless” academic programs, clinics, courses and research laboratories into disarray, just a few days before graduation. It said the revocation was a punishment for Harvard’s “perceived viewpoint,” which it called a violation of the right to free speech as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.