The university has on Monday rejected a list of new comprehensive requirements that, according to President Donald Trump's government, are intended to combat anti-Semitism on campus.
The requirements concern changes in governance, employment procedures, and admission processes, thus expanding the previous list that American universities received on April 3. Then, officials were ordered to close diversity offices and collaborate with migration authorities to review foreign students.
However, the private university's rector, Alan Garber, is fighting back. In a letter to students and teachers, he promises to defy the administration and emphasizes that the school will not "negotiate its independence and constitutional rights".
The letter comes after the government decided to review nine billion dollars in state funding to Harvard.
In March, the Education Department announced that 60 colleges and universities are being investigated for alleged "anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination". This occurs in the light of last year's student protests against Israel's war in Gaza, which in some cases led to violent clashes with police and pro-Israeli demonstrators.
