By Ciara Mina
As Harvard University held its 374th graduation ceremony, attended by around 9,000 graduates, students wore white flowers pinned to their gowns in a show of support for the university’s international student body.
Graduates wear white flowers
Before the commencement, more than 800 white flowers were placed throughout dining halls and residential houses as part of an initiative spearheaded by a group of international students at Harvard College.
The students thanked the graduating seniors for “standing up for the international community at Harvard”.
Some professors also joined the protest in solidarity with the students.
“We came up with white flowers as a symbol of innocence in this situation, that we’re being treated like hostages,” one of the international students said.
Yurong Jiang, a Chinese graduate who studied international development added: “We’re starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently, whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us, are not just wrong – we mistakenly see them as evil. But it doesn’t have to be this way.”
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Ban on international student acceptance
This comes after President Donald Trump’s administration banned Harvard University from accepting international students and is requiring them to move to other educational institutions or risk losing their legal status.
Trump also threatened to spread the crackdown to other universities.
According to the Homeland Security department, Secretary Kristi Noem directed the agency to revoke Harvard University’s certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme, effective for the 2025-2026 academic year.
However, US District Judge Allison Burroughs said on May 29 that she would prolong an order preventing Trump’s administration from immediately removing Harvard University’s authority to enroll overseas students.
Six days after initially granting Harvard a temporary order halting the Trump administration’s action, she also declared her intention to issue a preliminary injunction.
Additionally, the judge instructed the Justice Department and Harvard’s attorneys to reach a consensus about the student visa programme.
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