The dispute between the Trump administration and Harvard University, explained

After six months of work, Shreya Mishra Reddy has a few more weeks and one last learning module standing between her and the credential she's been chasing for more than half her life: Harvard graduate.

The last unit of her executive leadership program at Harvard University resumes on Wednesday. After that, Reddy's booked to fly to Cambridge, Mass., in July to finish her certificate in person and graduate from one of the most prestigious universities in the world — a dream she and her family have shared for well over half her life. 

It's also a dream she says has cost her at least $90,000 US.

Last week, Reddy was in the middle of a work meeting at home when she saw a notification pop up on her phone: The Trump administration had banned Harvard University from accepting international students like herself. She studies on an optional practical training visa, which has allowed her to work after finishing her undergrad at Duke University. But that visa expires in January, and though the ban has been temporarily blocked, she said the news made her nervous about boarding her flight this summer.

"It was completely confusing and devastating to read something like that," Reddy, 33, told CBC's As It Happens in an interview from Toronto, where her husband lives.

"If we're not allowed to be back on campus, we're not allowed to graduate ... it takes away so much," added Reddy, who grew up in India. "Studying at Harvard was not really about a degree. It was so much more."

Reddy is one of thousands of international students at Harvard University who say they're in confused, anxious limbo as they watch a legal battle unfold between their school and the Trump administration. 

Here's a recap of the conflict.

Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem asked Harvard for a trove of private student data, including every international student's course work and information on any student visa holder's disciplinary and legal history. Noem later expanded her request to include any video footage of international students who had been involved in illegal, dangerous or protest activity over the past five years — whether it be on or off Harvard's campus. 

After a few weeks of back-and-forth, Harvard declined part of the request. The Trump administration retaliated by revoking Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), which meant the university no longer had the ability to enrol international students.

The decision could force more than one-quarter of the school's enrolment to change schools or leave the United States.

The government also stripped the university of its authority to sponsor F and J visas for international students and scholars for the 2025-26 academic year.

An F-1 visa is a visa for foreign nationals use to enter the United States and attend an accredited university like Harvard. A J-1 visa is for people taking "approved educational and cultural exchange programs."

Trump has already frozen several billion dollars in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, leading the university to sue to restore the funding. The administration has accused the school of not doing enough to curb antisemitism following pro-Palestinian protests that have emerged in the past two years.