THE US government is freezing billions of dollars in funding for Harvard University after the institution vowed to defy its demands to limit activism on campus.

The suspension of more than $2.2 billion (£1.6bn) in grants and $60 million (£45.3m) in contracts marks the seventh time President Donald Trump’s administration has taken such action against one of the nation’s top colleges in an attempt to force compliance with the Trump agenda.

In a letter to Harvard on Friday, the Trump administration called for broad reforms to how the university is run, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognising some student societies.

The federal government warned that a total of almost $9bn (£6.8bn) in grants and contracts was at risk if Harvard did not comply.

In a letter to the university’s community on Monday, Harvard president Alan Garber said the institution would not yield to the government’s demands.

“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Professsor Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community.

“No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”

Hours later, the government imposed the federal funding freeze.

The first university targeted by the Trump administration was Columbia, which acquiesced to the government’s demands under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts.

The administration also has paused federal funding for the universities of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern.

The administration has claimed that universities allowed anti-semitism to go unchecked during campus protests last year against Israel’s war in Gaza.

However, Prof Garber said that Harvard had already made extensive reforms to address anti-semitism and that many of the government’s demands did not relate to anti-semitism but instead sought to regulate the “intellectual conditions” at the university.

Withholding federal funding from Harvard, one of the top US research universities in science and medicine, “risks not only the health and wellbeing of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation,” he warned.

It also violates the university’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the government's authority under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race, colour or national origin, Prof Garber said.