Spring buds appear on a tree near Eliot House, rear, at Harvard University, Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)2025-04-17T14:17:43Z WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trumps administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to revoke the universitys ability to host international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvards tax-exempt status.The Department of Homeland Security ordered Harvard late Tuesday to turn over detailed records of its foreign student visa holders illegal and violent activities by April 30. International students make up 27% of the campus.The department also said it was canceling two grants to the school totaling $2.7 million. The moves deepen the crackdown on Harvard, which on Monday became the first university to openly defy the administrations demands related to activism on campus, antisemitism and diversity. The federal government has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the Ivy League institution. Trump suggested Tuesday on social media that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting Sickness?The hold on federal money for research at Harvard marked the seventh time the administration has taken such a step at one of the nations most elite colleges. The government is attempting to force compliance with Trumps political agenda at schools he accuses of pushing woke policies and allowing antisemitism to fester. In a letter to Harvard on Friday, Trumps administration called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, plus changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs. Harvard President Alan Garber said Monday that the university would not bend to the governments demands. Later that day, the White House announced the freeze of more than $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contracts. Conservative strategist Christopher Rufo said the government should respond to Harvards defiance by cutting all federal money and stripping nonprofit status at Harvard and other Ivies that defy federal orders. Rufo urged the government to use the same tools it used during the Civil Rights Movement to force desegregation.Trump needs to follow through on his threat to defund one of the Ivy League universities, Rufo said on social media Tuesday. Cut the funding and watch the university implode.Rufo said Harvard has discriminated against white and Asian American students, citing events such as graduation celebrations specific to certain ethnic groups, along with a 2021 theater performance exclusively for Black-identifying audience members.For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.Trumps campaign started at Columbia University, which initially agreed to several demands from the Trump administration but took a more emboldened tone after Harvards defiance. Columbias acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a campus message Monday that some of the demands are not subject to negotiation and that she read of Harvards rejection with great interest. Trump has targeted schools accused of tolerating antisemitism amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses. Some of the governments demands touch directly on that activism, calling on Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are hostile to the American values.___The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. ANNIE MA Ma is an Associated Press national writer who covers K-12 education. twitter mailto JOCELYN GECKER Gecker is an Associated Press reporter covering education with a focus on social media and youth mental health. twitter mailto COLLIN BINKLEY Binkley covers the U.S. Education Department and federal education policy for The Associated Press, along with a wide range of issues from K-12 through higher education. twitter mailto