Harvard University has rejected a list of sweeping demands sent by the White House that asked the university to change many of its policies or risk losing billions of dollars in federal funding.

"The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," the university wrote on its X account on Monday.

The Trump administration sent Harvard a letter on Friday that added to a list of requirements it said were designed to fight antisemitism on campus, including changes to its governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures.

In its response, Harvard said it did not "take lightly" its obligation to fight antisemitism but said the government was overreaching.

"The administration's prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government," Harvard's President Alan Garber said in the letter.

The government's request "violates Harvard's First Amendment rights", "exceeds" its authority and "threatens our values as a private institution", Garber said.

He added that the threatened cuts to funding could jeopardise vital research.

The White House said in its own letter that Harvard had "in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment".

The letter included 10 categories for proposed changes that the White House said were needed in order for Harvard to maintain its "financial relationship with the federal government".

Some of the changes include: reducing the power held by students and untenured faculty; reporting students to the federal government who are "hostile" to American values, and hiring an external government-approved party to audit programs and departments "that most fuel antisemitic harassment".

Since re-entering the White House, President Donald Trump has put pressure on universities to curb antisemitism and end diversity practices.

He has accused leading universities of failing to protect Jewish students, as well as having an institutional left-wing bias.

More than a billion dollars in federal funds have been frozen to multiple universities since he took office in January, according to a tracker at Inside Higher Ed.

In March, the administration said it was reviewing roughly $256m (£194m) in federal contracts and grants at Harvard, and an additional $8.7bn in multi-year grant commitments.

Harvard professors filed a lawsuit in response, alleging the government was unlawfully attacking freedom of speech and academic freedom.

The White House had previously pulled $400m in federal funding from Columbia University and accused it of failing to fight antisemitism and protect Jewish students on its campus.

When the $400m was pulled, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said: "Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding".

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