The Pentagon announced Friday it is cutting ties with Harvard University, ending all military training, fellowships and certificate programs with the Ivy League school.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Harvard “no longer meets the needs of the War Department or the military services.” In a statement, he said the department had long sent officers to Harvard hoping the university would “better understand and appreciate our warrior class,” but that too many officers returned “looking too much like Harvard — heads full of globalist and radical ideologies that do not improve our fighting ranks.” On X, Hegseth added, “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 at Harvard. Personnel already enrolled will be allowed to finish their courses. Hegseth said similar programs at other Ivy League universities will be evaluated in coming weeks.
The move is the latest development in the Trump administration’s prolonged standoff with Harvard over White House demands for reforms at the university. Administration officials have cut billions in federal research funding to Harvard and sought to block the school from enrolling foreign students after Harvard rebuffed government requests last April.
The White House has said it is punishing Harvard for tolerating anti-Jewish bias on campus. Harvard’s leaders contend the administration is illegally retaliating for the school’s refusal to adopt the administration’s ideological demands. Harvard sued, and a federal judge issued orders siding with the university in two cases; the administration is appealing.
Tensions briefly eased over the summer as President Donald Trump suggested a deal was imminent; no agreement materialized. On Monday, Trump renewed pressure by demanding $1 billion from Harvard as part of any deal to restore federal funding — double his earlier demand.
Hegseth, who earned a master’s degree from Harvard, symbolically returned his diploma in a 2022 Fox News segment and later resurfaced the clip via a Pentagon social media account run by his office. The military offers officers graduate education through service-run war colleges and civilian institutions like Harvard. Such civilian opportunities, while less directly tied to military advancement, make service members more competitive in the civilian job market after leaving the military.