Over 300 gather at Harvard to protest SEVP revocation, citing threats to education, democracy, and student safety.
More than 300 students, parents, and Cambridge affiliates rallied at Harvard’s Science Center Plaza on Tuesday to protest the Trump administration’s decision to revoke the University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. The move, currently blocked by a federal judge, endangers the status of international students at Harvard.
“We stand here today to affirm that international students are our peers, our classmates, and our friends,” said Nuriel R. Vera-DeGraff ’26, an event organizer.
Organized by Harvard Students for Freedom, the rally featured speeches denouncing the administration’s actions as authoritarian and harmful. Former Harvard Hillel president Jacob M. Miller ’25 criticized the administration’s justification on antisemitism grounds as “morally bankrupt.”
Government professor Ryan D. Enos stated, “There is no Harvard without them.”
Leo Gerdén ’25, a senior from Sweden, shared fears of deportation, urging his peers to stand firm: “Let’s all use our power to put us on a better trajectory than the one we are on right now.”