The Trump administration on Thursday accused Harvard University of failing to report large foreign donations to the federal government as required by law, part of a widening effort to target the institution after it refused to comply with President Trump’s demands.

In a letter to Alan M. Garber, the university president, the Education Department told Harvard to provide names and all records of communication with foreign donors from the beginning of 2020.

The department also asked for a swath of records pertaining to foreigners who spent time at Harvard, including any students Harvard had expelled or those who had their credentials canceled, going back to 2016. The request included details on visiting researchers, scholars, students and faculty from other countries beginning from 2010, along with their last known addresses.

Jason Newton, a Harvard spokesman, disputed the notion that the university had not been complying with laws requiring them to file reports disclosing foreign donations of more than $250,000.

“Harvard has filed Section 117 reports for decades as part of its ongoing compliance with the law,” he said in a statement.

The records request is the latest instance of the Trump administration singling out Harvard for special scrutiny or punishment in recent weeks as it cracks down on institutions of higher learning over diversity and equity initiatives and what it called a failure to address antisemitism on campuses.

Because Harvard refused to accede to the requirements to overhaul policies and departments and reconfigure them to mirror the administration’s priorities, federal officials punished the university by freezing $2.2 billion in federal grants and are threatening to revoke the institution’s tax-exempt status.

Complying with the administration’s latest request could be a significant undertaking.

Harvard, by its own numbers, has more than 69,000 alumni who live outside the United States, in 202 countries. All of them are likely to have been solicited by the university for donations. Since Harvard technically cancels the credentials of any student who departs campus, whether by graduating or through expulsion, it is conceivable that the Trump administration’s demand for records could apply to nearly all of them.

The size of Harvard’s network of visiting scholars who are from or now reside in other countries was not immediately clear.

Vimal Patel contributed reporting