BOSTON — Elite US university Harvard is risking almost $9 billion in federal funding as it rejects a list of sweeping demands that the Trump administration said are intended to crack down on campus antisemitism.

In a letter to Harvard Friday, the administration called for broad government and leadership reforms, a requirement that Harvard institute what it calls “merit-based” admissions and hiring policies as well as conduct an audit of the study body, faculty and leadership on their views about diversity.

The demands, which are an update from an earlier letter, also call for a ban on face masks — which appeared to target anti-Israel protesters. They also call for the university to stop recognizing or funding “any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment,” to halt diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and to reform “programs with egregious records of antisemitism or other bias.”

Harvard President Alan Garber, in a letter to the Harvard community Monday, said the demands violated the university’s First Amendment rights and “exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI,” which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race, color or national origin.

“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,” Garber wrote, adding that the university had taken extensive reforms to address antisemitism.

“These ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate,” wrote Garber, who is Jewish.........

© The Times of Israel