Pentagon to cut ties with Harvard over ‘wokesters ’, ending training, programs and fellowships | Pete Hegseth
US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was ending all military training, scholarships and certification programs with Harvard University; This marks the Trump administration’s latest escalation against the Ivy League school.
“@DeptWar is officially discontinuing ALL Professional Military Training, scholarships, and certification programs with Harvard University,” Hegseth said in a statement published on X, labeling Harvard “woke.”
Hegseth, a former Fox weekend host, attacked the university as “one of the hotbeds of Hate America activism.”
“Too many faculty members openly hate our military; they cast our armed forces in a negative light and silence anyone who challenges their left-wing political leanings,” said Hegseth, who made no mention of the public policy masters he earned from Harvard’s John F Kennedy school of government.
“With some exceptions,” Hegseth added, “there is widespread institutional bias in the Ivy League as a whole and a lack of diversity of perspectives, including disdain for toxic ideologies that undermine our mission.”
“Therefore, within two weeks, components of all our departments (army, navy and air force) will evaluate all available graduate programs for active duty service members at all Ivy League universities and other civilian universities,” he added.
Hegseth also said the Pentagon’s focus on “creating lethality” “no longer includes spending millions of dollars on expensive universities that undermine our mission and undermine our country.”
The Harvard graduate concluded his video message as follows: “We train warriors, not vigilantes. Harvard: get well soon.”
Hegseth’s attack on Harvard has been a central theme of his political discourse for years. He disparaged school in two of his books and a live episode During Fox & Friends’ morning show in 2022, he made a show of defacing his diploma and writing “Return to sender” on it in capital letters.
During the same broadcast, Hegseth admitted that he did not actually “give back” his diploma, saying: “People will say: ‘It’s just a trick, you still have a diploma.’ “No problem, I went, got my diploma, walked, went to classes and so on.”
Donald Trump’s administration is putting pressure on leading US universities, including Harvard, on a variety of issues, including pro-Palestinian protests, diversity programs, transgender policies and climate initiatives.
