The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy will host returning international graduate students from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government who are unable to remain in or re-enter the United States this fall. This follows the Trump administration’s June 4 visa restrictions on Harvard University’s international students.  

Announced on June 24, this arrangement makes U of T the first and so far only Canadian university to support Harvard amidst the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks against the acclaimed US institution.   

The arrangement

The Munk School wrote in the announcement published on its website that “a small group” of returning international graduate students from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), “will be enrolled as full-time, non-degree students at the Munk School.” Munk classes begin on September 8, and HKS students will take classes taught by faculty of both universities. 

The announcement notes that their “participation will not reduce the number of spaces available for U of T students in any academic programs or in university housing.” Only returning second-year HKS students are eligible for the Munk program, and these students “will have the option of continuing their degrees as visiting students,” the announcement adds. 

“These are exceptional times,” said Janice Stein, founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, in a statement sent to The Varsity when the arrangement was first proposed in June, “the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy looks forward to providing shared academic and co-curricular experiences for students from both our schools.”

In a statement sent to The Varsity, Jeremy Weinstein, Dean of HKS, stated, “We are deeply grateful for the support of the Munk School and other partners, who are helping to ensure that we can continue to provide all HKS students with the excellent education they deserve.”

Rising tensions

Harvard University’s President Alan Garber released a statement on June 5 explaining that the White House’s latest attack on Harvard’s international students targeted those holding F and J visas, the most recent escalation in the Trump administration’s ongoing battle with the university. 

“Singling out our institution for its enrollment of international students and its collaboration with other educational institutions around the world is yet another illegal step taken by the Administration to retaliate against Harvard.”

Tensions between Harvard and the White House have been fraught for months, since the university refused to comply with demands to replace diversity, equity, and inclusion policies with “merit-based reforms” for hiring and admissions. 

These demands also sought to address “antisemitic harassment” at the school, recommending audits of “centers of concern.” The Trump administration included the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health & Human Rights on the list of “centers of concern” sent to Harvard. These demands have been widely condemned as an attempt to silence pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus. 

In his June 5 statement, Garber stated generally that “contingency plans are being developed.” Only HKS, with its substantial 59 per cent international student body, has publicly announced a plan so far. 

When asked if U of T would consider further collaboration with American universities facing increased scrutiny from the Trump administration, a university spokesperson wrote, “if asked, other divisions at U of T would offer assistance to help a partner institution maintain its academic programs.”

“A global responsibility”

The question of how to adapt to accommodate international students coming from American institutions has been a topic of conversation among U of T administration. At the Governing Council’s May 22 meeting, Alumni Governor Grace Ann Westcott referenced the White House’s announcement that day, which revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students. 

She stated that if successful, there would be “a lot of interrupted educational futures… I wonder if we have any flexibility to accept any students who have been uprooted,” also noting, “You kind of wonder why the administration wants to destroy the crown jewel of their educational system.”

Replying to Wescott, U of T Vice-President & Provost Trevor Young revealed that U of T has seen, “an increase in applications for international students from the US. We also have other international students, which we believe may have chosen the US before, and have decided to come to Canada,” noting that the university has “a global responsibility… that may extend closer to home than it did in the past.”

Elected Governing Council full-time undergraduate student Luke Calabretta added, “This is a once-in-a-lifetime strategic opportunity for our institution, and I think that perhaps we should seriously consider… creating some sort of a new program or an initiative for these [international] students to come over here.”