The Trump administration will respond in court to Harvard University's lawsuit seeking to block a federal funding freeze imposed after the institution rejected a list of White House demands that it said would undermine its independence,

President Donald Trump’s campaign to pressure elite universities into making a wide range of policy changes met its first major resistance when Harvard University sued the US government for freezing billions of dollars in federal funding.

BOSTON — Harvard University announced Monday that it was suing the Trump administration to halt a freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.