The letter orders the university to take disciplinary action for "violations" that happened during protests on campus over the past two years. It also demands an end the university's diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programmes.

Since taking office, President Trump has put pressure on universities to tackle antisemitism and end diversity practices.

In December 2023, the president's of top US universities were questioned in a tense congressional hearing in which they were accused of failing to protect Jewish students following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war two months earlier.

Claudine Gay, who was then president of Harvard, later apologised after telling the hearing that calls for the killing of Jews were abhorrent, but it would depend on the context whether such comments would constitute a violation of Harvard's code of conduct.

That comment, as well as allegations of plagiarism, led her to resign from the post a month later.

In March, the Trump administration said it was reviewing roughly $256m in federal contracts and grants at Harvard, and an additional $8.7bn in multi-year grant commitments.Harvard professors filed a lawsuit in response, alleging the government was unlawfully attacking freedom of speech and academic freedom.

The White House had previously pulled $400m in federal funding from Columbia University and accused it of failing to fight antisemitism and protect Jewish students on its campus.

When the $400m was pulled, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said: "Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding".