\n<\/p>\n
Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made several announcements, stating he was ending partnerships with multiple highly selective colleges and universities that have long educated military service members. But it remains unclear what he\u2019s actually canceling, why specific universities have been targeted or favored and what he plans to replace these programs with. <\/p>\n
Lindsey Tepe, government relations director for the American Council on Education, said the uncertainty stems in part from the fact that the Defense Department is primarily communicating the changes through videos and news releases, rather than talking with institutions themselves. \u201cThe drip of news over the past month has not been conducive, I think, to clear implementation or any sort of ability for institutions to communicate to applicants what is happening,\u201d Tepe said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s created a lot of confusion,\u201d she said, adding that \u201cdisrupting those partnerships and those programs is not going to help meet the needs of the branches of service.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, a spokesperson for the Defense Department (which now calls itself the Department of War, or DoW) told Inside Higher Ed <\/em>that, beyond Hegseth\u2019s videos, memos and a Feb. 27 statement from chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, \u201cwe don\u2019t have anything additional to provide on this, at this time.\u201d Parnell\u2019s statement said the department is eliminating fellowships at universities that \u201cdiminish critical thinking, have significant adversary involvement, or fail to deliver rigorous education grounded in realism. The policy changes will not impact any Service members or DoW civilians currently enrolled in the affected programs.\u201d<\/p>\n Defense Department documents that Inside Higher Ed<\/em> has obtained suggest that Hegseth\u2019s announcements about what the department is doing go much further than what is actually happening on the ground. <\/p>\n At stake is a slice of universities\u2019 lucrative partnership with the military, which both sides have called beneficial in the past. And Hegseth\u2019s changes to which institutions can train top military leaders come just as the U.S. has entered into a war with Iran that\u2019s upended the Middle East. <\/p>\n A month ago, Hegseth said in a video on X, \u201cAmerica\u2019s highly ranked universities no longer live up to their founding principles as bastions of free speech, open inquiry\u201d and commitment to \u201cAmerican values.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTake Harvard University, for example\u2014I know it well,\u201d said Hegseth, who earned a master\u2019s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. <\/p>\n He proceeded to denounce his alma mater, calling Harvard \u201cone of the red-hot centers of hate-America activism.\u201d He added that \u201ctoo many faculty members openly loathe our military\u201d and \u201csquelch anyone who challenges their leftist political leanings.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cEven more troubling is Harvard\u2019s partnership with our adversaries,\u201d he said, suggesting that the university has partnered with the Chinese Communist Party and \u201cencouraged a campus environment that celebrated Hamas, allowed attacks on Jews and still promotes discrimination based on race.\u201d He even accused Harvard of ideologically tainting military leaders. <\/p>\n \u201cFor too long, this department has sent our best and brightest officers to Harvard hoping the university would better understand and appreciate our warrior class,\u201d he said. \u201cInstead, too many of our officers came back looking too much like Harvard: heads full of globalist and radical ideologies that do not improve our fighting ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n Then he announced the breakup: \u201cI am discontinuing all graduate-level Professional Military Education (PME), all fellowships and certificate programs between Harvard University and the War Department for active-duty service members.\u201d He suggested more was coming, vowing that the military would evaluate \u201call existing graduate programs for active-duty service members\u201d at all Ivy League and other civilian universities. He backed that up with a matching written memo. <\/p>\n (The Harvard Kennedy School has interpreted this as fully discontinuing \u201cgraduate school enrollment at Harvard for active-duty service members,\u201d according to a message its dean sent prospective students Wednesday. In response, the school is allowing admitted students who are barred from attending to defer enrollment for up to four years\u2014or to apply to other selective institutions, such as the University of Chicago, and have their applications reviewed on \u201can expedited timeline.\u201d)<\/p>\n On Feb. 27, Hegseth dropped another video, announcing \u201cthe complete and immediate cancellation of all Department of War attendance at institutions like Princeton, Columbia, MIT, Brown, Yale and many others, starting next academic year.\u201d That could be interpreted as ending even undergraduate tuition assistance for service members at these universities\u2014which is further than he\u2019d gone with Harvard. <\/p>\n But this time, the accompanying memo didn\u2019t match. It said only that \u201cwe are eliminating certain Senior Service College (SSC) Fellowship programs for the 2026-2027 academic year and beyond\u201d\u2014which is just one type of fellowship. Attached to the memo was a list of 15 higher ed institutions, showing 78 Senior Service College fellowships canceled across them. (Fellowships were also canceled at several nonprofits, for a total of 93.) <\/p>\n \u201cThe Senior Service College Fellowship programs are fairly narrow compared to the wide range [of programs]\u00a0\u2026 that the different branches partner with civilian institutions to offer,\u201d said Tepe, with the American Council on Education. <\/p>\n Furthermore, a \u201cRollout Plan\u201d for that Feb. 27 memo, which Inside Higher Ed <\/em>obtained, clarified specifically that \u201cthere is no impact to ROTC programs, tuition assistance and voluntary education programs, grant programs, professional degrees (i.e., medical, dental, law, or business degrees), or military-to-military educational exchange with foreign military education institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n Though 93 canceled fellowships \u201cdoesn\u2019t seem like a lot,\u201d Tepe said, \u201cI do think this sets a really troubling precedent for the politicization of opportunities that senior military officers have to pursue professional learning.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the institutions where fellowships were canceled\u2014as well as those listed as potential replacements\u2014never received notification from the Pentagon, these universities told Inside Higher Ed<\/em>. It\u2019s unclear if any did.<\/p>\n Retired U.S. Army colonel Peter Mansoor, a military history professor at Ohio State University, said that, typically, those selected to go to a military-run war college, such as the Army War College, can instead apply to go into one of these Senior Service College Fellowship programs at a think tank or university. The military does this so \u201csome of the uprising potential officers, who might potentially become generals, get a broader education and a broader perspective on a variety of things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Among the universities with now-canceled Senior Service College Fellowship programs are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, William & Mary, Carnegie Mellon University, Yale University and Harvard. <\/p>\n An MIT spokesperson wrote in an email Thursday, well after the Feb. 27 memo, that it hasn\u2019t \u201creceived any official communication and cannot comment on any reported change in policy.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cOver 12,000 military officers have been commissioned from MIT, with more than 150 reaching the rank of general or admiral,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cWe have taught military science classes dating back to the opening of our doors. MIT has top-ranked programs in AI, quantum, computer science, nuclear science and engineering, naval engineering, and more\u2014all of which are critical to modern defense. We\u2019re honestly surprised at the idea of taking such educational opportunities off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n A William & Mary spokesperson said in a statement, \u201cWe have not received official notification from the Department of War about any change in status affecting our programs or our students, or any information related to why we were included in the department\u2019s February 27 announcement.\u201d Noting it educated President George Washington, the college said it\u2019s \u201cpuzzled and saddened\u201d and that \u201cthe culture on our campus is one of longstanding support for our military and veteran students.\u201d<\/p>\n A Carnegie Mellon spokesperson wrote in an email that \u201cthis change set to begin next academic year will have a limited impact; only five fellows are designated to CMU through the fellowship program.\u201d The spokesperson also noted what wasn\u2019t affected: \u201cROTC, graduate master\u2019s or Ph.D. programs, certificate or training programs, students attending on veterans\u2019 benefit programs, cooperative agreements, or any research programs or activities.\u201d <\/p>\n The spokesperson said that current initiatives include preparing officers to support Navy nuclear missions and training sailors and soldiers in AI and robotics, \u201censuring our military are the best in the world in understanding and deploying cutting-edge technology.\u201d <\/p>\n A Yale University spokesperson said that the university is \u201cworking to understand the changes in the department\u2019s policy and remains deeply committed to educating leaders who serve our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYale has a long history of faculty research on national security and global affairs as well as teaching students who aspire to careers in the military, national security and statecraft,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n Mansoor called Hegseth\u2019s cancellation of these partnerships \u201cshortsighted.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIt is to the detriment of our nation\u2019s national security that military officers will no longer be able to learn from some of the best minds in the nation and that, vice versa, that military officers won\u2019t be able to interact with some of the senior civilian thinkers in the nation,\u201d Mansoor said, adding that \u201cthis interaction won\u2019t occur anywhere else, and now you\u2019ve completely cut it off.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth\u2019s Feb. 27 memo also listed 24 civilian higher ed institutions among its \u201cpotential new partner institutions.\u201d Among them are the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, Virginia Tech, Regent University, Hillsdale College and Liberty University. <\/p>\n The memo said, \u201cThese institutions meet the following criteria: intellectual freedom, minimal relationships with adversaries, minimal public expressions in opposition of the Department, and Graduate-level National Security, International Affairs, and\/or Public Policy Programs.\u201d It provided no further details on how those criteria were judged. <\/p>\n A Liberty spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed<\/em> in an email Thursday that \u201cso far, there has been no coordination between Liberty University and the Department of War regarding their announcement of a potential partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLiberty University is grateful for the Department of War and its ongoing mission to defend this great nation, and for Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s leadership,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n A Virginia Tech spokesperson similarly said the university \u201cwas not contacted by the United States military about being a potential partner, nor did the university contact the military, prior to the issuance of [the] February 27 memo.\u201d Still, the spokesperson said, \u201cwe are not surprised to be mentioned in this conversation\u00a0\u2026 Virginia Tech has a decades-long history with the United States military\u00a0\u2026 We are open to cultivating new ways to strengthen that relationship in the decades to come.\u201d<\/p>\n A Regent spokesperson said that university \u201cis in discussions with the Department of War about contributing to the professional development of senior military leaders,\u201d but didn\u2019t provide further detail or an interview. The spokesperson said Regent \u201chas a long-standing commitment to educating and supporting members of the U.S. military and their families,\u201d including \u201cworking with the Naval Preparatory Program to help prepare future Navy officers.\u201d <\/p>\n UNC at Chapel Hill chancellor Lee Roberts said in a statement that the university is proud to be \u201cidentified as a potential education partner.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cOur University has a long and distinguished history of educating and collaborating with military leaders through broad, pan-university academic offerings that span public policy, global affairs, national security, public health, business, law, data science, leadership and emerging technologies,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth made several announcements, stating he was ending partnerships with multiple highly selective colleges and universities that have long educated military service members. But it remains unclear what he\u2019s actually canceling, why specific universities have been targeted or favored and what he plans to replace these programs with. Lindsey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[4673,3632,1415,13965,23288,261],"class_list":{"0":"post-46149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-colleges","9":"tag-hegseth","10":"tag-targets","11":"tag-unclear","12":"tag-waging","13":"tag-war"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u2018Radical Ideologies\u2019<\/h2>\n
Institutions Ambushed <\/h2>\n