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Updated April 30, 2025, at 9:34 p.m.

Harvard shared information with the Department of Homeland Security in response to its request for information on international students’ disciplinary records and illegal activity, the University announced in a Wednesday evening email to affiliates.

It was not immediately clear whether Harvard provided all the requested records. University Executive Vice President Meredith L. Weenick ’90 wrote that Harvard had responded to the DHS’ request “to provide information required by law,” but a University spokesperson declined to specify what records had been shared.

The announcement comes almost two weeks after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sent Harvard a letter threatening to revoke its authorization to host international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program unless it shared international students’ data, including records related to protest participation.

The DHS gave Harvard until Wednesday to respond to the demands.

“We take seriously the data retention and reporting obligations that enable participation in the SEVP,” Weenick wrote.

She wrote that Harvard “reiterated our steadfast commitment to sponsor the visas that facilitate our international students’ study” in its message to the DHS and “made clear” that it does not intend to withdraw from SEVP.

“Our participation in SEVP is unchanged at this time, and any withdrawal by DHS of Harvard’s certification would be involuntary,” Weenick wrote.

The April 16 requests from the DHS included information regarding each visa holder’s “known deprivation of rights of other classmates” and “obstruction of the school’s learning environment,” along with any disciplinary actions “taken as a result of making threats to other students or populations or participating in protests.”

Under Title 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations, the law Noem cited in the letter, universities must provide the DHS with information on international students’ degree program, course enrollment, grades, and academic status — including withdrawal, probation, suspension, or expulsion — upon request.

Universities are also required to report within 21 days any disciplinary action that they take against students because of criminal convictions.

If Harvard loses its SEVP status, current international students on University-sponsored visas will have to choose between transferring to a different institution, changing their immigration status, or leaving the country, according to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.

Weenick wrote in her email on Wednesday that Harvard is still currently enrolled in SEVP, and that “any withdrawal by DHS of Harvard’s certification would be involuntary.”

“For our students and scholars from abroad, we encourage you to continue to stay as focused as possible on your academic pursuits,” she wrote.

In the weeks since Harvard received Noem’s letter, hundreds of affiliates — including international undergraduates and the Harvard Undergraduate Association student body co-presidents — had urged the University not to comply with the demands laid out in the letter.

Several legal experts previously told The Crimson that Harvard should consider suing the DHS over its demands. Harvard has already filed a lawsuit against nine federal agencies over $2.2 billion in federal funding cuts to the University, but did not list the DHS as a defendant.

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.