DOD Bans Military Members From Attending Elite Schools Hegseth calls schools like Yale, Brown ‘factories of anti-American resentment
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at Mar-a-Lago on Jan. 3 in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)
The Pentagon will prohibit members of the military from attending Columbia, Yale, Brown, and other universities starting next school year, as part of an effort to sever ties with institutions that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described as “factories of anti-American resentment.” Hegseth announced the policy in a video posted on social media Friday, three weeks after announcing similar measures targeting Harvard University. Without providing evidence, Hegseth said these universities have become “breeding grounds of toxic indoctrination” that undermine military values, according to the AP.
“For decades, the Ivy League and similar institutions have gorged themselves on a trust fund of American taxpayer dollars, only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain,” Hegseth said. “They’ve replaced the study of victory and pragmatic realism with the promotion of wokeness and weakness.” He said the ban will affect Columbia, Princeton, Brown, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and “many others,” without providing further details. Hegseth called for the “complete and immediate cancellation of all Department of War attendance,” though it remains unclear how broadly the directive will be applied. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.
As of Friday, Columbia, Brown, MIT, and Harvard were still listed as eligible institutions in the Pentagon’s tuition assistance program, which covers full tuition costs for active-duty personnel. In 2023, Harvard had 39 participants, Columbia nine, and MIT two. The earlier action targeting Harvard is aimed at blocking military members from graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs, though questions remain about whether it applies to programs like Harvard’s Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.
The military provides officers with multiple opportunities for graduate-level education, both at military-run war colleges and at civilian universities such as Harvard. Ivy League campuses have frequently been criticized by President Trump, who has accused them of being overtaken by “woke” ideology. During his administration, Trump cut billions in research funding and pursued other sanctions against universities, sometimes tied to investigations into allegations that officials allowed antisemitism on campus.
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