Pentagon says it's cutting ties with 'woke' Harvard, ending military training

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement Friday that Harvard "no longer meets the needs of the War Department or the military services." "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. "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.""

"In a separate post on X, Hegseth wrote, "Harvard is woke; The War Department is not." Starting with the 2026-27 academic year, the Pentagon will discontinue graduate-level professional military education, fellowships and certificate programs, the statement said. Personnel currently attending classes at Harvard will be able to finish those courses. Similar programs at other Ivy League universities will be evaluated in coming weeks, Hegseth said."

"A Pentagon social media account run by Hegseth's office resurfaced the clip in which Hegseth, then a Fox News commentator, returned the diploma and wrote "Return to Sender" on it with a marker. The military offers its officers a variety of opportunities to get graduate-level education both at war colleges run by the military as well as civilian institutions like Harvard. Broadly, while opportunities to attend prestigious civilian schools offer less direct benefit to a servicemember's military career than their civilian counterparts, they help make"

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Pentagon will end all military training, fellowships and certificate programs with Harvard, saying the university no longer meets military needs. He criticized Harvard as producing officers influenced by globalist and radical ideologies and called the university woke. The cut will take effect beginning the 2026-27 academic year, with current personnel allowed to finish courses. The Pentagon will evaluate similar programs at other Ivy League schools. Hegseth previously returned his Harvard diploma publicly, and a Pentagon social media account shared his 2022 clip.

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