Does the president want to fix Harvard or destroy it?

The administration announced Tuesday that it is seeking to cancel all remaining federal contracts with the school, which are worth an estimated $100 million. That’s on top of the billions of dollars in grants to Harvard that Mr. Trump has already frozen. He’s also threatened to revoke the university’s tax-exempt status and wants to increase the levy on its $53 billion endowment.

In a social-media post on Memorial Day, the president mused about rescinding $3 billion in grant money awarded to Harvard for scientific and engineering research and redirecting it to trade schools. But to what end? Does Mr. Trump think trade schools have the infrastructure and resources to do the research done at Harvard?

The president is upset that Harvard and other elite institutions didn’t do enough to protect Jewish students on their campuses who were being harassed and intimidated by anti-Israel demonstrators. He’s likewise annoyed by the leftward political tilt of academia, where social-justice advocacy is dominant and competing perspectives are discouraged and seldom engaged. Those are fair criticisms, but they don’t give Mr. Trump license to trample over academic freedom and First Amendment rights, or to tell private universities whom they can hire and what they can teach.

Mr. Trump’s recent move to bar Harvard from enrolling foreign students is as shortsighted and counterproductive as his effort to disrupt research projects. Citing a need to protect Jewish students, the Department of Homeland Security announced last week that Harvard is losing its certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which allows international students to attend U.S. colleges. “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a press release.

A federal judge has issued a restraining order that temporarily halts the administration’s foreign-student ban, and anyone who cares about higher education should hope the White House drops the issue. Mr. Trump accuses Harvard of withholding the names of its international students. “They refuse to tell us who the people are," he told reporters. But the federal government already has that information.

As the Harvard Crimson explained, schools that accept students on foreign visas “report extensive records to the Student Exchange and Visitor Information System database, including names, places of birth, and countries of origin." The administration wants additional information on foreign students, including protest activities, but Harvard says that goes beyond what the law requires and raises privacy concerns.

The problem is that the government’s demands are overly broad and almost certainly pretextual. Compliance is near-impossible because the administration has already determined that Harvard is to be punished. What’s less clear is what Mr. Trump hopes to accomplish by inflicting as much pain as possible on one of the world’s most prestigious universities. Is the goal to fix what’s wrong with higher education—and much needs fixing—or to destroy it?

Mr. Trump likes to talk about his crackdown on illegal immigration, and he deserves high praise for fulfilling his campaign promise to restore order on the southern border. The president also complains, however, about companies that hire foreign nationals who are here lawfully, suggesting that he has a problem with immigrant workers regardless of their legal status.

Citing a memo signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Politico reported Tuesday that the administration might soon require “all foreign students applying to study in the United States to undergo social media vetting." In preparation, it is “ordering U.S. embassies and consular sections to pause scheduling new interviews for such student visa applicants." For the White House, banning foreign students could be another way to reduce legal immigration.

If that’s the goal, Mr. Trump should understand the trade-offs. One of the reasons that U.S. higher education is the gold standard is the presence of international students. A disproportionately high number of doctorates at American universities are awarded to foreign students—especially in the more demanding fields of science, mathematics and engineering. “International students accounted for more than 40 percent of the roughly 500,000 doctoral degrees awarded by U.S. universities between 2000 and 2019," according to the Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

Mumbai and Beijing—by way of Harvard and other elite schools—supply the talent that keeps our high-tech sector competitive. These are among the best minds in the world, and they want to live and work in America. They boost employment and productivity. They generate wealth. Nothing is gained by forcing our leading universities to turn them away.