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In just a few weeks, Harvard has become the epicenter of the ideological offensive launched by the White House. A security response coupled with an open confrontation with the university, accused of alleged antisemitism, a “woke” drift, and supposed complicity with the Chinese Communist Party. On May 28, 2025, Donald Trump ordered the immediate suspension of new foreign student visa processing, as part of a tightening of control procedures.
A perennial symptom of Sino-American confrontation: ideological conflict
The head of the executive has assumed a political line. At the conservative CPAC conference on April 15 and during an interview on Fox News, he called Harvard University a “progressive mess” and a “threat to democracy”. Beyond these sharp remarks, he intends to defend a clear ideological vision: to reorient the American educational system toward conservative values, breaking with the allegedly corrupted progressivism of academic elites. Fewer degrees in gender studies, more technical skills, fewer LGBT+ voices, and more textbooks featuring patriotic themes: a profound ideological adjustment of American higher education aiming to reshape the intellectual and cultural contours of the next generation.
In this offensive endeavor, China becomes a major focal point. He accuses Alan Garber’s administration, president of Harvard, not only of tolerating “radical” positions and promoting a progressive ideology incompatible with “true American values”, but also of serving Beijing’s strategic interests. Furthermore, he attributes to the institution the role of China’s Trojan horse, basing these accusations on suspicions of undeclared technology transfers through research partnerships. Indeed, among the 290,000 Chinese students enrolled in American universities, Harvard welcomes several thousand each year. The ambiguous ties that Donald Trump attributes to certain foreign doctoral candidates with institutions linked to the People’s Liberation Army have sparked, de facto, serious concerns within the US government regarding national security. This approach is part of a broader confrontation between the Trump administration and elite American universities, seen as bastions of progressive thought deemed contrary to the nationalist political line, and China’s influence. On May 22, the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, announced the revocation of the SEVIS program authorizing Harvard to host international students: if confirmed, nearly 6,700 students, or 27% of the population, would face expulsion or academic exile. Although a federal judge temporarily suspended this decision, the university was given a 72-hour ultimatum to deliver information about potential “illegal activities” by foreign students.
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