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Timeline › 2025 › May › 27

May 27, 2025

3 entries on this date.

State Department cable halted new student and exchange visitor visa interviews pending expanded social media and political-views screening

On May 27, 2025, the State Department issued a cable ordering U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide to immediately stop scheduling new visa interview appointments for all foreign nationals applying for F-1 academic student, J-1 exchange visitor, and M-1 vocational student visas, pending expanded social media vetting guidance. A follow-on cable on May 30 directed consular officers to apply "extra vigilance" in screening applicants for hostility toward the U.S. government and values — including ties to political activism and associations with disfavored groups — making political views an operative criterion for visa denial. The pause affected new interview scheduling for more than 1.5 million F/M visa holders and nearly 300,000 J-1 exchange visitors, a category that includes Fulbright scholars, professors, au pairs, and Summer Work Travel workers.

GSA directed all federal agencies to cancel ~$100M in Harvard operating contracts, escalating political retaliation campaign

On May 27, 2025, the General Services Administration sent a letter to all federal agencies directing them to identify and cancel remaining contracts with Harvard University — approximately 30 contracts worth an estimated $100 million — and to seek alternative vendors for future services. The directive escalated the administration's retaliatory campaign against Harvard, which had publicly refused White House demands to alter its hiring, admissions, and governance practices. The contract-cancellation mechanism targeted operating agreements distinct from the $2.6 billion in research grants already frozen or cancelled since April 2025.

Iowa Gov. Reynolds signed HF856 banning DEI offices across state and local government

On May 27, 2025, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed House File 856 into law, barring state agencies, cities, counties, and other governmental entities from spending public money to establish or maintain diversity, equity, and inclusion offices or to employ DEI officers. The law also prohibits those entities from promoting an enumerated list of concepts — including "transgender ideology," "systemic oppression," "intersectionality," and "implicit bias" — and creates a private cause of action allowing students, alumni, and public employees to sue to stop violations. Its core prohibitions took effect upon enactment.