Harvard, MIT sue US for ‘dangerous’ move to banish online-only foreign students

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are challenging a Trump administration policy that would bar foreign students from remaining in the United States if their universities are not holding in-person classes this fall.

“For many students, returning to their home countries to participate in online instruction is impossible, impracticable, prohibitively expensive and/or dangerous”, said the complaint, which called the move “a cudgel to compel universities to alter their plans for the fall”.

“The effect – and perhaps even the goal – is to create as much chaos for universities and international students as possible,” the court document said. It also criticised the order for not offering a notice-and-comment period.