Harvard International Office Hires 4 New Staff As Student Visas Are Revoked Elsewhere

The Harvard International Office has increased its full-time staff by 20 percent amid the Trump administration’s sudden revocation of student and faculty visas at peer institutions, a University official said at a Tuesday Faculty of Arts and Sciences meeting.

Vice President for Harvard’s Campus Services Sean Caron told faculty that the HIO has hired four additional staff members, bringing the number of its employees from 21 to 25.

The HIO is partnering with Harvard Law School’s Immigration and Refugee Clinic — which led the University’s response to immigration concerns during Trump’s presidency — to support international students in the wake of the Trump administration’s actions.

In recent weeks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have escalated deportations of international students associated with pro-Palestine protests. As of last Thursday, the Trump administration had revoked the visas of at least 300 students, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

And Harvard Medical School researcher Kseniia Petrova is currently being detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana after her visa was rescinded in February for failing to properly declare frog embryos.

The University appears to be expanding its response to growing concerns about Trump’s actions across the board.

On Sunday, Harvard College Dean of Students Thomas G. Dunne delivered the first College-wide message addressing student anxieties over deportations in an email, writing that “we know this is a very difficult time, and we are monitoring the situation closely.”

And during the Tuesday faculty meeting, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra said that “the presence of our international students and scholars profoundly enriches our educational and research environment.”

Hoekstra also shared specific steps Harvard is taking, including closely monitoring the Student and Exchange Visitor Program database — which provides information on student visa statuses — and identifying a number of immigration attorneys. She added that the University would not provide identifiable information of students unless required by law.

History professor Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof ’93 asked Harvard to ensure that no student would be arrested or detained due to the cancellation of their visa. Hoffnung-Garskof suggested that the University close Harvard Yard to people without ID access, support departments that wish to require card access to their spaces, and alert University affiliates of any ICE activity.

In her response to Hoffnung-Garskof, Hoekstra said the HIO had told her that individualized guidance would be more useful than general policies and that the office’s advisors could provide individual consultation to assess students’ individual risks.

Hoekstra also expressed concern about the growing threats to international students and faculty at universities nationwide.

“I could not be more concerned about these actions’ impacts on higher education — now and in the future,” she said, adding that international students and postdocs had made significant contributions to her own lab.

“To remove these individuals deprives all of us of the benefit of their contributions to campus discourse and to our academic mission,” Hoekstra said.

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.