The administration has frozen funding and targeted international students as it presses the university for a stronger response to alleged antisemitism.

"It would be devastating," a former president of Harvard — and frequent critic of the university — said of the government's attempt to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students.

The Trump administration’s sudden move to bar foreign students at Harvard University is seen as dealing a blow to the US’s standing in business — and handing an advantage to elite rival colleges across the English-speaking world.