By: Quinn Hathaway
Media Production Editor
Federal Judge Allison Burrough ruled to overturn the Trump Administration’s freeze of Harvard University’s research funding on Sep. 3, 2025. Judge Burrough ruled that freezing funds violates the university’s free speech rights, allowing money to resume flowing.
Following Oct. 7, 2023, students at Harvard University, as well as from many other colleges, protested heavily regarding the conflict between Israel and Gaza. As a result, President Donald Trump declared many universities “antisemitic,” as activists were protesting in defense of Gaza, which he viewed as opposing the United States. In April, Trump started to cut off funding when Harvard rejected a list of government demands regarding their “antisemitic” issues. In total, Trump rebuffed $2.6 billion, and Harvard took the case to court. Other universities, including Duke, Northwestern, Cornell, and Brown, reached agreements with the Trump administration in hopes of restoring funds and ending the investigation. While many US federal judges supported Trump’s decisions, others, including United States District Judge Loren Alikan, were appalled and have issued orders against the pauses on the grants.
Boston-based Federal judge Allison Borough recently released an 84-page ruling, stating that the current administration “used antisemitism as a smoke-screen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.” Harvard, whom the government has been withholding funding from since April, has been considering paying an exorbitant sum of money to close the whole ordeal, as Trump stated he would settle for no less than $500 million. However, Burrough’s case opens the door to possible resolutions as the appeal processes in court.
Burrough’s writing and speeches outline her acknowledgement of Harvard’s deep-rooted antisemitism, writing that “Harvard was wrong to tolerate hateful behavior for as long as it did,” but ultimately disagreeing with the correlation between moral issues and federal funding. After Burrough released her ruling, a Harvard spokesperson stated that the college has recently begun to see reinstatement notices arrive from the previously terminated federal funding sites. However, the school has yet to actually receive any payments. Appeals can take anywhere from three to eighteen months to process in court, and additional time may be required if the case is referred to the Supreme Court.
Many Harvard officials are upset about the funding freeze, with Harvard’s president, Alan M. Garber, “[No government] should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” The case remains open as Harvard attempts to uphold their original virtues amid the ideologically motivated assault.
(Sources: BBC, Harvard, NBC, NYT)