The Case of Harvard University and Chinese Students

By now, most Americans have probably heard that President Trump wants to set limits and even deny the admission of foreign students to U.S. colleges and universities. The concern seems to be that Chinese students who pursue STEM degrees will gain access to U.S. technology and other sensitive research and development and return home after their studies and use their knowledge gained to transfer the technology to the Chinese government.

The U.S. hosted more than 1.1 million international college students in the 2023-2024 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education. In fiscal 2024, the government approved 263,000 applications by foreign graduates for temporary employment under the Optional Practical Training program (OPT), and 52,000 one-time students or dependents rotated into H1-B work visas, which can lead to citizenship.

Writing in the New York Times on May 30, 2025 about her experiences, Li Yuan questions the appropriateness of restricting, or outright banning, Chinese students from U.S. colleges and universities. She recognizes the need to protect the borders, but states that “it’s another matter to deny students because they are Chinese and hope to pursue a STEM degree in the U.S.” Basically, she says “it’s unwarranted and may cut off the flow of future technologists, engineers and scientists.” I agree with her. My view is that the proposed action is “a bridge too far.”

When Did it All Get Started?

Yuan points out that one night in 1978, President Jimmy Carter got a phone call at 3 a.m. from a top adviser who was visiting China.

“Deng Xiaoping insisted I call you now, to see if you would permit 5,000 Chinese students to come to American universities,” said the official, Frank Press.

“Tell him to send 100,000,” Mr. Carter replied.

By Christmastime that year, the first group of 52 Chinese students had arrived in the U.S., just ahead of the formal establishment of U.S.-Chinese diplomatic relations on New Year’s Day. A month later, Deng, China’s top leader, made a historic visit to America during which he watched John Denver sing “Take Me Home, Country Roads” and was photographed wearing a cowboy hat.

By all accounts, President Carter and the U.S. Congress were welcoming to the Chinese students. It was at a time when China was shifting to a less authoritarian economy and more like capitalism albeit using state-owned enterprises. U.S. lawmakers saw it as an opportunity to gain influence with the emerging Chinese economy.  

Everything went well until we realized the Chinese economy was on a trajectory that would place it as the largest economy in the world, perhaps in ten years or less. There is no doubt that China “stole” technology from the U.S., and it might have been facilitated by Chinese students studying in the U.S. This matter has to be dealt with. One way to deal with it is to develop controls to properly vet Chinese students who choose to study in the U.S. One step is to do a comprehensive search of their social media activity.

Revoking Visas

The Trump administration announced last week that it would begin “aggressively” revoking visas for some Chinese students. For the millions of Chinese who have studied in the U.S., Yuan points out that “it is a sobering and disheartening development. It marks a turning point that America, long a beacon of openness and opportunity, would start shutting its doors to Chinese who aspire to a good education and a future in a society that values freedom and human dignity.”

The reaction to the new policy inside China, reflected in the U.S. Embassy’s social media accounts, was mixed. Some commenters thanked the U.S. for “sending China’s brightest minds back.” Others drew historical parallels, comparing the Trump administration’s isolationist turn to China’s Ming and Qing dynasties — once global powers that declined after turning inward and were ultimately defeated in foreign invasions. One commenter remarked that the policy’s narrow-mindedness would ‘make America small again.’”

The shift also comes when many young Chinese, disillusioned by political repression and economic stagnation under Xi Jinping’s leadership, are trying to flee the country to seek freedom and opportunities.

“Xi is pushing many of the best and the brightest to leave China,” said Thomas E. Kellogg, executive director of Georgetown’s Center for Asian Law and a leading scholar of legal reform in China. “The U.S. should be taking advantage of this historic brain drain, not shutting the door to many talented Chinese young people.”

Will Innovation Be Stifled?

A 2022 Harvard University study shows that immigrants represent 16 percent of all U.S. inventors, but produced 23 percent of total innovation output, as measured by number of patents, patent citations, and the economic value of these patents. Immigrant inventors are more likely to rely on foreign technologies, to collaborate with foreign inventors, and to be cited in foreign markets, thus contributing to the importation and diffusion of ideas across borders.

Another study from the National Foundation for American Policy finds that immigrant inventors founded or co-founded more than half of the U.S.’s billion-dollar startups. These companies employ a lot of people. Among privately held billion-dollar startup companies, those with immigrant founders have created an average of more than 1,200 jobs per company, the vast majority in the U.S.

The collective value of the 50 immigrant-founded companies is $248 billon according to the National Foundation study, which is more than the value of all the companies listed on the stock market of several countries, including Argentina, Columbia and Ireland.

Stifling Entrepreneurship

America’s ability to attract international students fosters entrepreneurship. According to the National Foundation study, about 22% (20 of 91) of the billion-dollar startup companies had a founder who first came to America as an international student.

The research also found that “6 of the billion-dollar companies were started by immigrants who came to America as children – Affirm, Avant, CrowdStrike, Discord, JetSmarter and Warby Parker. A seventh company started by an immigrant who entered as a child, GreenSky, recently went public and has a market capitalization of $2.9 billion. The success of these immigrant children who grew up to start billion-dollar companies shows the American Dream is alive and well.”

“Immigrants are ‘almost twice as likely’ as native-born Americans to become entrepreneurs, according to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The research is clear: The fewer immigrants allowed in the country, the fewer startup companies in America, including the type of cutting-edge companies that transform industries, employ many U.S. workers and make Americans proud.”

Immigrants are valuable as employees, whether or not they started the company, according to the study. The research found 75 of the 91 companies, or 82%, had at least one immigrant helping the company grow and innovate by filling a key management or product development position. CEO, chief technology officer and vice president of engineering are among the most common positions held by immigrants in billion-dollar startup companies.

Trump and Harvard University

Is   Trump is blocking Harvard's ability to enroll foreign students. Initially, President Trump said Harvard should cap the amount of foreign students it admits at 15%, and ensure that those it does accept “are people that can love our country.” How in the world is this to be determined?

Perhaps Trump realized the dilemma and subsequently suspended Harvard from participating in the student-visa program, effectively prohibiting foreign nationals from attending the nation’s most prominent university.

The move comes on top of a push to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students as part of the president’s battle with the school. The Trump administration has also paused new student-visa interviews while it prepares new measures to vet applicants’ social-media

The Trump administration isn’t scheduling any new student-visa interviews while it prepares new measures to vet applicants’ social-media accounts, according to a State Department cable dated June 3.

The move comes during the busy season for international students looking to come to the U.S., who have generally received acceptances from American universities in the spring and must obtain visas before the new school year begins in the autumn.

Are We Treating Foreign Students Appropriately?

Yuan considers her own situation, reflecting on the new, more stringent, U.S. immigration policy. She says,

“For the millions of Chinese who have studied in the United States, myself included, it is a sobering and disheartening development. It marks a turning point that America, long a beacon of openness and opportunity, would start shutting its doors to Chinese who aspire to a good education and a future in a society that values freedom and human dignity.  Yuan suggests that “by curbing people-to-people exchanges, President Trump is taking a decisive step toward decoupling from China. To treat Chinese students and professionals in science and technology broadly not as contributors, but as potential security risks, reflects a foreign policy driven more by insecurity and retreat than by the self-assurance of a global leader.”

Are Trump’s Concerns Legitimate?

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has made it more difficult to gain approvals to hire or retain high-skilled foreign nationals, including international students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The Trump administration also has dramatically reduced refugee admissions and proposed a “public charge” regulation that aims to make it much harder for family-based and other immigrants to qualify for green cards.

To treat Chinese students and professionals in science and technology broadly not as contributors, but as potential security risks, reflects a foreign policy driven more by insecurity and retreat than by the self-assurance of a global leader.”

We should worry about national security risks from China, including espionage and intellectual property theft. Yuan points out that “The Federal Bureau of Investigation calls the Chinese government the most prolific sponsor of talent recruitment programs that aim to transfer scientific and technological breakthroughs to China.”

There can be no doubt that admission standards for foreign students have to be tightened. It’s true we welcomed them in 1978, but that was almost 50 years ago. A lot has changed. China is threatening to replace the U.S. as the world’s largest economy. It has been establishing relationships with developing countries, such as those in Africa, that threaten U.S. market-expansion. The porous borders that have existed for so long have been taken advantage of. We need to get better control of who we let in. However, let’s not “throw out the baby with the bath water.”

Posted by Dr. Steven Mintz, aka Ethics Sage, on June 9, 2025. You can learn more about Steve’s activities by checking out his website at: https://www.stevenmintzethics.com/ and signing up for his newsletter.