The Pentagon announced Friday it will sever programmatic ties with Harvard University, ending all military training, fellowships and certificate programs the Defense Department runs with the school.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Harvard no longer meets the needs of the War Department or the services. He said officers who had been sent to Harvard to foster an understanding of the military too often returned influenced by what he described as globalist and radical ideas, and that the department does not share Harvard’s ideological outlook.
The change takes effect in the 2026–27 academic year. Graduate-level professional military education, fellowships and certificate programs at Harvard will be discontinued then; service members already enrolled will be allowed to complete their courses. Hegseth said similar programs at other Ivy League institutions will be reviewed in the coming weeks.
The decision is the latest episode in the Trump administration’s extended confrontation with Harvard. Administration officials have cut billions in federal research funding to the university and sought to block it from enrolling certain foreign students after Harvard declined government requests last April.
The White House says its actions are a response to alleged toleration of anti-Jewish bias on campus. Harvard leaders maintain the administration is unlawfully retaliating for the university’s refusal to accept the administration’s policy demands. Harvard has filed suit, and federal judges have issued rulings in the university’s favor in two cases; the administration is appealing those decisions.
Relations briefly appeared to thaw over the summer when President Trump indicated a deal might be near, but no agreement was reached. On Monday, Trump renewed his pressure, demanding $1 billion from Harvard as part of any pact to restore federal funding, double his earlier figure.
Hegseth, who earned a master’s degree from Harvard, famously returned his diploma during a 2022 Fox News segment and later circulated that clip via a Pentagon social media account. The military provides graduate education through service-run war colleges as well as civilian universities; civilian programs like those at Harvard are less directly tied to military promotion but can help service members be more competitive in the civilian workforce after leaving the armed forces.