Trump freezes $2bn in Harvard funding after university rejects demands

The Trump administration has said it is freezing more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in federal funds for Harvard University, hours after the elite college rejected a list of demands from the White House.

The White House sent a list of demands to Harvard last week which it said were designed to fight antisemitism on campus. They included changes to hiring, admissions and teaching.

Since Donald Trump was re-elected, his government has tried to reshape elite universities by threatening to withhold federal funds, mostly spent on research.

Harvard became the first major US university to reject the administration's demands on Monday, accusing the White House of trying to "control" its community.

The sweeping changes demanded by the White House would have transformed its operations and ceded a large amount of control to the government.

Its letter to Harvard on Friday, obtained by the New York Times, said the university had failed to live up to the "intellectual and civil rights conditions" that justify federal investment.

The letter included 10 categories for proposed changes, including:

President Trump has accused leading universities of failing to protect Jewish students when college campuses around the country were roiled by protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel last year.

The letter orders the university to take disciplinary action for "violations" that happened during protests.

In explaining its rejection of these demands, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights under the First Amendment protecting free speech.

"Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the 'intellectual conditions' at Harvard," he said.

Shortly after his letter of resistance was sent, the education department said it was freezing $2.2bn in grants and $60m in contracts to Harvard immediately.

"Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges," the Department of Education said in a statement.

The disruption of learning plaguing campuses is unacceptable and the harassment of Jewish students intolerable, the statement said.

Columbia agreed to several of the administration's demands, drawing criticism from some students and faculty.

Earlier on Monday, a lawyer for an organiser of pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University said her client had been arrested by immigration officials as he attended an interview as part of his application for US citizenship.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a green card holder who is due to graduate next month, was detained on Monday in Colchester, Vermont.

Others who took part in campus protests against the war, including Columbia University's Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts University's Rumeysa Ozturk, have been detained in recent weeks.