Harvard sees $2.2B funding freeze after defying Trump

Elite US university Harvard was hit with a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze on Monday after rejecting a list of sweeping demands that the White House said was intended to crack down on campus anti-Semitism.

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The call for changes to its governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures expands a list Harvard received on April 3, which ordered officials to shut diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.

In a letter to students and faculty, Harvard president Alan Garber vowed to defy the government, insisting that the school would not "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."

Trump's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism responded with a statement announcing the $2.2 billion hold in multi-year grants, plus a freeze on $60 million in government contracts.