The administration targeted Harvard — and other elite schools — as part of a broader political and legal strategy to reshape academia’s race-based admissions policies and perceived liberal bias.

The move was a major escalation in the administration’s efforts to pressure the college to fall in line with President Trump’s demands.

Earlier this month, President Trump threatened Harvard with the loss of its tax-exempt status, and in April, Noem demanded the university turn over records on the “illegal and violent” activities of its foreign student visa holders, threatening that if the university didn’t comply, their “privilege of enrolling foreign students” would end.