The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a controversial rule regarding international students that had spurred multiple lawsuits.

The discarded rule would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Slippery Rock University announced in June that it intended to use a hybrid approach involving both in-person and online learning.

“I'm happy it happened,” said Slippery Rock University President William Behre of the rescinding of the rule. “It makes life a little bit simpler during a really complex time for students who have struggled the most in how to navigate their education.”

More than 70 international students from 30 countries attended SRU in the spring semester.

Behre said the policy could have interrupted the education of international students and caused them unnecessary stress and worry. He said all students are worried about returning to their studies safely. He said it would have been difficult to watch international students also struggle with the stress of possible deportation.

“To all of our students, the message has to be that Slippery Rock is doing everything it can to build an environment this semester where they can thrive, and also where we can be as healthy as possible,” Behre said. “That's going to be a balancing act and a responsibility for everyone on campus, so we can make it through this semester.”

The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the July 6 directive and “return to the status quo.”

A lawyer representing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said only that the judge's characterization was correct.

Immigration officials issued the policy last week, reversing earlier guidance from March 13 telling colleges that limits around online education would be suspended during the pandemic.

The policy drew backlash from higher education institutions with more than 200 signing court briefs supporting the lawsuit led by Harvard and MIT.

Colleges said the policy would put students' safety at risk and hurt schools financially. Many schools rely on tuition from international students, and some stood to lose millions of dollars in revenue if the rule had taken hold.

The state of Pennsylvania also entered into a second lawsuit along with 16 other states to block the rule.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.