While many act with panic and shock over the Trump Administration’s decision to prevent Harvard University from enrolling international students, several MBA admission consultants are dismissing the action because they believe the courts will quickly overturn it.

Sure enough, it took little more than two hours for a judge to issue a temporary restraining order against the government after Harvard filed a lawsuit to stop the Department of Homeland Security from revoking the university’s certification to enroll international students. United States District Judge Allison D. Burroughs agreed that if the DHS’ move goes forward, Harvard “will sustain immediate and irreparable injury before there is an opportunity to hear from all parties.”

The court’s order on Friday (May 23) morning went into effect immediately and is expected to remain in place until a hearing in the case. Burroughs has scheduled a May 27 status hearing as well as a May 29 hearing on whether to issue a preliminary injunction. Harvard would need to file for a preliminary injunction to prevent the DHS’ directive from going into effect after the temporary restraining order expires.

Harvard’s 72-page lawsuit accuses the Trump administration of taking a retaliatory and illegal action. Harvard’s lawyers had called the decertification a politically motivated act of retaliation. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts less than 24 hours after the decision by the Trump administration, was widely expected. It is the second legal action taken by the university which sued the administration last month over the government’s attempt to impose changes to its curriculum, admissions policies and hiring practices.

‘IT IS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, BUT WITH HIGH TRANSACTION COSTS, CONFUSION, DELAY & A COUPLE OF ALKA SELTZERS ALONG THE WAY’

“It will end up in court and probably be decided in Harvard’s favor,” predicts Sandy Kreisberg, founder of HBSGuru.com. “Like most things  Trump, it will probably end as ‘much ado about nothing’ but with high transaction costs, confusion, delay and a couple of Alka Seltzers along the way.”

Jeremy Shinewald, founder and CEO of mbaMission, agrees. “As with virtually everything in Trump world, this is all subject to change,” he says. “Those considering applying in round one, and matriculating next summer, should know that we are speaking in eons of ‘Trump time.’ My guess is that this is just posturing in order to force an agreement of some sort, so that the administration can claim victory and move on. I am sure there Harvard will file a lawsuit — maybe they will win an injunction and visas will be processed. It is unsettling for anyone in school now, but I would wager heavily that international students will be at Harvard this fall.”

Just as Trump has done with his on-again, off-again tariff war, his government has made clear that it could just as easily reverse its decision. In announcing the decision May 22, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also gave Harvard 72 hours to provide information on international students for an opportunity to regain its visa program for the next school year. Noem claims she took the action against Harvard because the school refused to provide information Noem had previously demanded about some foreign student visa holders who attend the university.

HARVARD EXPECTED TO SEEK A TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER FROM TRUMP DECISION

Harvard well seek a temporary restraining order against the government action. In its lawsuit, the university maintains that decertification would place it at a “competitive disadvantage” relative to peer schools in the admissions process, arguing that it could be prevented from admitting visa holders for two years and that international students could remain wary of applying to Harvard for far longer. Harvard also alleges that the administration failed to follow legally required procedures or afford the University basic due process protections before revoking its SEVP certification.

The DHS has tried to justify its action by claiming that Harvard’s response to a sprawling records request on April 16 was “insufficient” — and that Harvard “ignored” a second request issued to Harvard after its first submission. The university counters that argument in its lawsuit, saying that it complied with the request by producing documents on two occasions on April 30 and May 14.

Harvard accused the Trump administration of exerting “clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students. …With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission,” the lawsuit said. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard.”

Nonetheless, the administration’s attempt to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students and force existing students to transfer or lose their legal status will have major repercussions for international applicants and students in U.S. schools.

‘THE ACTIONS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ARE A GROSS ABUSE OF ITS POWER’

“The news is devastating not just for international students at Harvard, who make up just under 30% of the student body, but for U.S. higher education more broadly,” says Anna Ivey, a long-time admissions coach. “The actions of the Trump administration are a gross abuse of its power, and I imagine Harvard’s lawyers are already preparing their latest court filings in anticipation of another legal challenge.”

As Poets&Quants has previously reported, at least some international applicants admitted to Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business are reconsidering their invites to come to the U.S. this fall for their MBA degrees. “We had already seen some international applicants change their minds about studying in the United States, and I can’t blame them,” adds Ivey in a LinkedIn post. “I’ve been quite vocal for a while now that this is not a good time for international students to come to the United States. It’s not safe for them here. Even if they’re not being snatched off the streets, which is horrifying, they don’t need the constant drama of wondering if their visas are about to be revoked. If they’ve taken out private loans for their studies, those also become due when they lose their status as enrolled students. It’s a mess. Other countries will certainly benefit from these terrific students who are being chased away.”

About 27% of Harvard’s students, or 6,800, are from outside the U.S. That includes 35% of the 930 students in Harvard Business School‘s Class of 2026. The largest chunk of international MBA students in the class, 13%, hail from Asia, with 8% from Europe and 5% from Mexico, Central and South America.

‘THIS IS VICIOUS. IT IS ILLEGAL. IT IS UNWISE AND IT IS VERY DAMAGING’

Predictably, the Trump administration is facing major opposition and outrage to its decision on Harvard which sued the administration last month over the government’s attempt to impose changes to its curriculum, admissions policies and hiring practices.  Former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers was emphatic in his criticism. “This is vicious. It is illegal. It is unwise, and it is very damaging,” he said in a video posted online. “Why does it make any sense at all to stop 6,000 enormously talented young people who want to come to the United States to study? Harvard must start by resisting. This is the stuff of tyranny.”

Other university leader quickly weighed in. Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called it a “grave moment. …I write to you in profound disbelief,” she wrote in a community email yesterday. “The action the federal government took today to bar Harvard from having international students is devastating for American excellence, openness, and ingenuity.”

Meantime, in a message to the Harvard community, President Alan M. Garber called the revocation “unlawful and unwarranted.”

“It imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams,” he wrote.

The Harvard lawsuit names the DHS, Department of Justice, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Justice, and the Department of State as defendants.

DON’T MISS: ADMITTED TO HARVARD & STANFORD BUT NOT SURE THEY WANT TO COME BECAUSE OF TRUMP or HARVARD CALLS TRUMP BAN ON INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS UNLAWFUL