April 21 (UPI) — Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, on Monday sued the Trump administration after federal funding was withdrawn and institutional oversight was demanded of the private school.

The 51-page lawsuit, which was filed in federal court of its home state of Massachusetts, asks a judge to block the funding freeze, arguing it is “unlawful and beyond the government’s authority.”

The White House did not immediately respond to comments with ABC News and CNN about the lawsuit by the Ivy League school.

“All told, the tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions,” Harvard’s lawyers wrote.

University President Alan M. Garber, in a letter addressed to the Harvard community on Monday, said the actions “have stark real-life consequences for patients, students, faculty, staff, researchers, and the standing of American higher education in the world.”

He added: “Indiscriminately slashing medical, scientific, and technological research undermines the nation’s ability to save American lives, foster American success, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation.”

In a previous letter on April 14, Garber wrote that Harvard “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” by agreeing to the government’s demands.

“Before taking punitive action, the law requires that the federal government engage with us about the ways we are fighting and will continue to fight antisemitism,” Garber wrote Monday. “Instead, the government’s April 11 demands seek to control whom we hire and what we teach.

The federal government said it is would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts after Harvard refused to agree to demands, including eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs, banning masks at campus protests, enacting merit-based hiring and admissions reforms, and silencing those “more committed to activism than scholarship.”

Also, another $1 billion in federal health research contracts to Harvard could be withheld. The IRS is considering rescinding the tax-exempt status of the university. And the administration has threatened Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students.

“The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting,” Garber wrote. “Research that the government has put in jeopardy includes efforts to improve the prospects of children who survive cancer, to understand at the molecular level how cancer spreads throughout the body, to predict the spread of infectious disease outbreaks, and to ease the pain of soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

“The victims will be future patients and their loved ones who will suffer the heartbreak of illnesses that might have been prevented or treated more effectively.”

Teaching hospitals affiliated with Harvard Medical School and/or Harvard University include Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. There are also research and rehabilitation centers associated with Harvard.

The lawsuit also alleges the funding freeze violates the First Amendment and federal law. And the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires procedures needed before funding can be frozen, has been violated, the suit alleges.

“The Government made no effort to follow those procedures – nor the procedures provided for in Defendants’ own agency regulations – before freezing Harvard’s federal funding,” the lawsuit said.

Other private universities, including Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern, have seen federal funding paused.

The Trump administration has been concerned about antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus since October 2023 when Hamas invaded Israel and a war continues in Gaza.

“The Government has not – and cannot – identify any rational connection between antisemitism concerns and the medical, scientific, technological, and other research it has frozen that aims to save American lives, foster American success, preserve American security, and maintain America’s position as a global leader in innovation,” the suit, filed Monday, said.

Hardvard’s president said he will soon release reports of the Task Force on Combating Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias and the Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias.

“The reports are hard-hitting and painful,” he wrote. “They also include recommendations with concrete plans for implementation, which we welcome and embrace. No one in our community should experience bias, intolerance, or bigotry. We believe adoption of the recommendations and other measures will go far toward eradicating those evils on our campus.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s CEO and national director said the Trump administration may be overreaching.

“The issue of combating antisemitism on campus should be addressed on its own process and merits,” Jonathan Greenblatt wrote Friday in an article published in the Times of Israel. “Other debates on higher education may be important, but they can and should be resolved separate from fighting antisemitism on campus.”

Harvard has an enrollment of 24,596 undergraduate and graduate students with 20,667 faculty and staff.

Tuition at Harvard was more than $56,000 this year and total cost of attendance was almost $83,000, according to its financial aid website.

In March, the school announced undergraduate tuition will be free for students from families making $200,000 or less, starting next fall. Currently, 55% of undergraduates receive financial aid, with the average family contribution standing at $15,700 in 2023-2024.

Harvard’s endowment is valued at $53.2 billion, but it’s considered a long-term investment and not a slush fund.

Massachusetts’ Democratic Gov. Maura Healey told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday: “It’s part of this continued playbook that Donald Trump has been using, which is to silence critics.

“First he went after the law firms, then he went after companies, then he went after everyday Americans. Now he’s going after colleges and universities, using any and all tactics to try to shut them down, to silence them.”

Garber concluded his letter by writing: “The time ahead will demand much from each of us, but I am as confident as ever in our ability to meet our challenges with integrity and resolve, our minds set on the work before us and our hearts committed to the future of our beloved University.”