U.S. War Department Cuts Ties With Prestigious Harvard University

The U.S. War Department has announced it will end all academic relationships with Harvard University, saying the institution no longer meets the needs of the department or the military services.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said today the decision covers all professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs linked to the university. “The Department of War is formally ending ALL Professional Military Education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University. Harvard is woke; The War Department is not,” Hegseth said.

The move will take effect from the 2026–2027 academic year, with current military students allowed to complete their courses.

Hegseth claimed the department’s long-standing practice of sending officers to Harvard has failed to deliver the intended outcomes. “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,” he 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.”

Hegseth acknowledged the historical relationship between the U.S. military and Harvard, citing its role during the American Revolutionary War and the number of Medal of Honor recipients who studied there. “In 1775 ... Gen. George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Harvard Yard and used the university as a military base,” he said, adding that military service was once common at the institution.

Why the Department ended ties

Hegseth argued that the situation has changed, stating that Harvard is no longer a welcoming environment for military personnel or suitable for developing future leaders. The secretary pointed to what he described as problematic foreign ties and campus culture. He attacked the university as “one of the red-hot centers of Hate America activism.”

“Campus research programs have partnered with the Chinese Communist Party,” Hegseth said. “And university leadership encouraged a campus environment that celebrated Hamas, allowed attacks on Jews, and still promotes discrimination based on race in violation of Supreme Court decisions.”

The move follows months of threats, demands, and lawsuits by the Trump administration against Harvard, as it sought to pressure universities to align with its worldviews while alleging that U.S. campuses promote antisemitism and leftist ideology.

Harvard has been a central target, with Trump posting earlier this week on Truth Social that he would seek $1 billion in damages over claims the university enabled antisemitism. Harvard President Alan Garber has rejected the allegations as false and described the administration’s actions as an attack on academic freedom. Hegseth, who has campaigned against what he calls wokeness and diversity programs, portrayed Harvard as a radical leftist institution undermining the U.S. armed forces.

“Too many faculty members openly loathe our military; they cast our armed forces in. a negative light and squelch anyone who challenges their leftist political leanings,” said Hegseth, who did not reference his master’s degree from Harvard’s John F Kennedy School of Government.

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

What next?

The War Department said it will now review similar arrangements with other civilian universities, including Ivy League institutions. “[We] will evaluate all existing graduate programs for active-duty service members at all Ivy League universities and other civilian universities,” Hegseth said, to assess whether they provide cost-effective strategic education compared with public universities and military-run graduate programs.

Hegseth said the department’s future focus would be on combat readiness and deterrence. “That no longer includes spending billions of dollars on expensive universities that actively undercut our mission and undercut our country,” he said.