Pentagon cuts academic ties with ‘woke’ Harvard to focus on training ‘warriors’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said his department will cut academic ties with Harvard University, claiming it is no longer the right place to develop military personnel, in the latest flash point in the Trump administration’s long-running battle with the Ivy League institution.

“For too long, this department has sent our best and brightest officers to Harvard, hoping the university would better understand and appreciate our warrior class,” Hegseth said in a statement Friday. “Instead, 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.”

The Pentagon will end graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs at the school in the 2026-2027 school year, Hegseth said. Those who are currently attending courses would be able to finish them, he added.

The Pentagon would also review all graduate programs for active-duty service members at Ivy League and other civilian universities.

“The goal is to determine whether or not they actually deliver cost-effective strategic education for future senior leaders when compared to, say, public universities and our military graduate programs,” he said.

Hegseth’s announcement mentioned graduate programs and students but not Harvard College, the university’s undergraduate program. A department official declined to respond to a question Saturday about whether undergraduates in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps would be affected, saying the department had nothing to add beyond the secretary’s video at this time. Harvard declined to comment on Hegseth’s remarks Saturday.

Harvard has a long history with the military, with people connected to the school serving in militias more than 100 years before the country’s founding. In 1776, students were sent home early, the campus was given over to the Continental Army, and 1,600 soldiers moved into the school’s five buildings. Later, more than 1,600 soldiers with ties to Harvard fought in the Civil War; the campus hosted the first Army ROTC in the country starting in 1916; and the U.S. Navy Reserve began training officers at Harvard during World War II.

Some Harvard students also protested the school’s military ties during the Vietnam War.

As of September 2025, Harvard had more than 100 cadets and midshipmen enrolled, as well as 78 veterans, according to the university. This summer, Harvard Kennedy School announced a fellowship providing a scholarship for at least 50 military veterans or public servants to attend a fully funded one-year master’s degree program.

Friday’s move is the latest rupture in the Trump administration’s relations with universities and Harvard in particular. President Donald Trump ran on a platform of making colleges and universities “sane,” alleging antisemitism in response to pro-Palestinian campus protests over the Israel-Gaza war. Since he took office, the government has used federal funding as leverage in an attempt to force changes on issues such as admissions, campus protests, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Ties with Harvard have been particularly fraught, with the government threatening to withhold billions in federal grants and contracts, ordering sweeping changes and opening numerous investigations into the nation’s oldest university.

Harvard has rejected allegations of antisemitism and sued the Trump administration over the funding freeze and, separately, actions to block international students from enrolling at Harvard. In September, a judge ruled the Trump administration violated the Constitution by blocking more than $2 billion in research grants, and funding has now been restored, though the final outcome is far from clear. Both cases have been appealed by the Trump administration.

Last week, Trump said on social media that Harvard must pay $1 billion and that the administration wanted nothing more to do with the university, escalating tensions further.

Hegseth highlighted the military’s long-standing relationship with Harvard in his statement, saying “there are more recipients of our nation’s Medal of Honor who went to Harvard than any other civilian institution in the United States.” But he also accused Harvard of becoming “one of the red-hot centers of ‘hate America’ activism … all while charging enormous tuition. It’s not worth it.”

“We train warriors, not wokesters,” he said. “Harvard, good riddance.”

Hegseth went to Harvard himself, earning a master’s in public policy in 2013 from the Harvard Kennedy School. In a segment on Fox News in 2022, where he worked as co-host at the time, he repudiated the degree, scribbling “return to sender” on his diploma.

Since becoming defense secretary over a year ago, Hegseth has purged the military of DEI programs and “woke” student courses, and pushed out transgender service members. This week, the Pentagon warned Scouting America that it risks losing its partnership with the military unless it institutes “core value reforms” that have not been made public.