Harvard students earn course credit helping asylum seekers as critics calls school 'bastion of woke activism'

The University of Harvard is offering an "Immigrant Justice Lab" course this semester where Ivy League students can earn credit hours contributing "research and writing for asylum applicants."

HIST 123 is available for undergraduate students in the history department of the school’s social sciences division and utilizes a partnership with the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice, a nonprofit legal services organization that provides free representation to asylum seekers. 

"This course trains and supports teams of undergraduates to contribute research and writing for asylum applicants represented by attorneys at the Mabel Center for Immigrant Justice," the course description reads. 

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The description explains that the course will operate on four parallel tracks, one of which "involves reflection and on the ethical practice of legal advocacy, and responsible depictions of violence and injustice in foreign cultures."

The course drew criticism on social media, including from Corey DeAngelis, conservative school choice advocate and Americans for Fair Treatment senior fellow, who told Fox News Digital the class is "prioritizing illegal immigrants over American students."

"Once America's premier university, Harvard has devolved into an irredeemable bastion of woke activism, prioritizing illegal immigrants over American students – it's too far gone, and the only solution is to strip all federal funding and its tax-exempt status," DeAngelis told Fox.

"With billions in endowments, Harvard doesn't need federal handouts – President Trump must go nuclear and pull all taxpayer funding immediately to stop elite universities from using our money to aid illegal immigrants and push radical agendas," DeAngelis added.

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The Mabel Center, whose attorneys students will be working with during the semester, is funded almost entirely by contributions from "individual, foundation, and corporate donors," according to the organization’s website and IRS data.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Mabel Center, but did not receive a response.

According to Harvard’s website, the course has been offered for some time, dating back to at least 2023. 

The University’s Center for International Affairs also plans to host an "Immigration Justice Lab Conference" in March which is open to the public.

"The Immigrant Justice Lab at Harvard is developing a project dedicated to generating new research on the contemporary social conditions faced by migrants in the Americas and making that research available to migrants and their advocates, and indirectly to asylum officers and immigration judges," the description of the conference reads.

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The conference comes as Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth cut ties with the Ivy League school earlier this month, saying the university was "woke."

"Too many faculty members openly loathe our military. They cast our armed forces in a negative light and squelch anyone who challenges their leftist political leanings, all while charging enormous tuition. It's not worth it," Hegseth said.
"They’ve replaced open inquiry and honest debate with rigid orthodoxy."

"Harvard is woke; The War Department is not," Hegseth added.

The secretary said the department would be ending graduate-level training, fellowships and certificate programs for active-duty service members starting in the coming school year. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard University, but did not receive a response.