Harvard University has rejected numerous demands from the Trump administration to crack down on campus activism.The United States federal government on Monday announced it is to freeze more than $2.2 billion (€1.94 billion) in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard as the university has said it won't stymie activism on campus, a key demand from the Trump administration. On Monday Harvard rejected numerous demands from the Trump administration with the Donald Trump administration subsequently making the decision to halt the funding. How did Harvard react to the demands from the Trump administration? The move came hours after university president, Alan Garber, said in a letter to the Harvard community, "The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." "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." In a letter on Friday, the US Department of Education said that Harvard had "failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment." The department called on Harvard to reduce the influence of faculty, staff and students who are "more committed to activism than scholarship." Harvard alumni protest Trump threats The pressure from the Trump administration prompted a group of alumni to write to university leaders, calling on them to "legally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance." "Harvard stood up today for the integrity, values, and freedoms that serve as the foundation of higher education," Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni behind the letter, said. "Harvard reminded the world that learning, innovation and transformative growth will not yield to bullying and authoritarian whims." It also sparked a protest over the weekend from members of the Harvard community and from residents of Cambridge, as well as a lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors on Friday. In their lawsuit, plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration has acted too hastily, failing to follow steps required under Title VI before it starts slashing grants, and giving notice of the reduction to both the university and Congress. "These sweeping yet indeterminate demands are not remedies targeting the causes of any determination of noncompliance with federal law," plaintiffs wrote. "Instead, they overtly seek to impose on Harvard University political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration and commit the University to punishing disfavored speech." The US' crackdown on activism Several students and faculty members at colleges across the United States have been targeted and detained by federal agents in recent weeks amid the Trump administration's crackdown on activism at college campuses which has taken aim at pro-Palestinian student activists and critics of the Israeli regime. The Trump administration claimed that the activism of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, could harm US foreign policy despite being "lawful." And a US immigration judge ruled on Friday that Khalil can be deported because his beliefs threaten national security. Khalil, a permanent US resident and vocal pro-Palestinian activist, was arrested March 8, becoming the first student detained under Trump's crackdown on Gaza war protesters. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration has revoked the visas of "maybe more than 300" people allegedly tied to pro-Palestinian university protests. "The Trump administration's actions against universities, their researchers and their students have no recent precedent in US history," according to Columbia University law professor David Pozen. Ramya Krishnan, a senior staff attorney at Columbia's Knight First Amendment Institute, said "the administration has unleashed, to put it bluntly, a campaign of terror on immigrants in this country. And it seems that no one is safe." Immigration officers have also detained and tried to deport a Tufts University student from Turkey, Rumeysa Ozturk, and Columbia student Yunseo Chung, who is a permanent resident in the US, originally from South Korea. Their deportations have been, for now, blocked by courts. Edited by: Alex Berry