Last week, President Trump announced he would bar Harvard University from enrolling international students as a result of Harvard “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.” That ban could have far-reaching effects, including within Harvard’s athletics department, where international students make up 21% of all student-athletes.
According to NPR, in some cases, entire teams could be wiped out without the international student-athletes on their rosters. For example, men’s heavyweight rowing is an eight-man team. Seven of those men are international students. Ten out of 13 men’s squash players are also international students.
Last week, President Trump announced he would bar Harvard University from enrolling international students as a result of Harvard “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party.” That ban could have far-reaching effects, including within Harvard’s athletics department, where international students make up 21% of all student-athletes.
According to NPR, in some cases, entire teams could be wiped out without the international student-athletes on their rosters. For example, men’s heavyweight rowing is an eight-man team. Seven of those men are international students. Ten out of 13 men’s squash players are also international students.
Harvard boasts one of the largest athletics departments in the country, with over 900 student-athletes competing in 42 varsity sports. Roughly 196 of those student-athletes are international students.
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Other sports expected to be heavily impacted if the courts cannot stop President Trump’s order include women’s soccer and women’s golf.
While Erin McDermott, Harvard’s athletic director, has not yet released a statement, Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, said the school “will continue to fight hate with the urgency it demands as we fully comply with our obligations under the law. That is not only our legal responsibility. It is our moral imperative."
On Friday, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s order stopping Harvard University from enrolling international students. Before that block could take effect, the Department of Homeland Security had already contacted international students, telling them to transfer to a different university if they wanted to maintain their visas.
