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.

Harvard's complaint Monday provides a glimpse into the expected impacts to the institution after the Trump administration slashed more than $2 billion in federal funding.

Harvard University sued the Trump administration Monday in a new escalation of the fight over institutional oversight, independence and federal funding for the Ivy League school.