The US Department of Education on Monday told Harvard University that it is freezing billions of dollars in future research grants and other aid until the institution concedes to several demands from the Donald Trump administration, Reuters reported.

In a letter, US Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon told Harvard University that it must address concerns about antisemitism on campus and school policies that considered a student’s race.

She added that the university had to also address complaints from the Trump administration that it had abandoned its pursuit of “academic excellence” while employing relatively few conservative faculty members.

“This letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided,” Reuters quoted McMahon as saying.

In response, Harvard University said that the letter doubled down on demands that would impose “unprecedented and improper control” over it and made new threats to “illegally” withhold funding for lifesaving research.

“Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure,” the news agency quoted a university spokesperson as saying.

In April, the Trump administration froze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the institution said it would defy demands to overhaul its policies and curb activism on campus.

The action came hours after Harvard rejected a sweeping list of requirements from the White House ostensibly aimed at combating antisemitism and reforming university governance, admissions and hiring practices.

The US government had said that nearly $9 billion in total grants and contracts were at stake if Harvard did not comply.

Among the demands were that the university should report students who are “hostile” to American values to federal authorities, ensure departments are “viewpoint diverse” and allow an external, government-approved party to audit programmes that “fuel antisemitic harassment”.

Other measures included banning face masks on campus, ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and withdrawing recognition from student clubs accused of promoting criminal activity, violence or harassment.

The US government had also threatened to ban Harvard University from enrolling international students unless the institute submits the students’ disciplinary records and information about their participation in protests.

The White House has argued that universities have allowed antisemitism to flourish during protests against Israel’s war on Gaza and US support for it. “Harvard had in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment,” the administration said in a letter on April 11.

Since taking office in January, Trump has repeatedly targeted elite universities over campus protests, diversity programmes and free speech issues. Harvard is the seventh major institution whose funding has been paused by his administration. The others are Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern.

Columbia was the first to be targeted and later agreed to several government demands after $400 million in federal funding was pulled. Education Secretary Linda McMahon had said then that “universities must comply with all federal anti-discrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding”.