Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop billions of dollars in proposed cuts.
The suit filed Monday is part of a feud that escalated last week when the elite institution rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at the school.
President Donald Trump froze $2.2bn (£1.7bn) of federal funding and also threatened the university’s tax-exempt status.
The White House responded later Monday night in a statement.
Mr Garber said the funding freeze affected critical research including studies on pediatric cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Aside from funding, the Trump administration days ago also threatened Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.
Mr Garber, who is Jewish, acknowledged Harvard’s campus has had issues with anti-semitism but said he had established task forces to work with the problem.
He said the university would release the report of two task forces that looked into anti-semitism and anti-Muslim bias.
The prominent US university, located in Massachusetts, is not the only institution faced with withholding of federal dollars, which play an outsized role in funding new scientific breakthroughs.
The administration has targeted other private Ivy League institutions including suspending $1bn at Cornell University and $510 million at Brown University.
Others such as Columbia University, the epicentre of pro-Palestinian campus protests last year, have agreed to some demands after $400 million of federal funds was threatened.
The demands to Harvard included agreeing to government-approved external audits of the university’s curriculum as well as hiring and admission data.
In response, Harvard released a blistering letter rejecting them.
Former US President Barack Obama, a Harvard alum, said he supported the university.
