Hegseth suggests changes in elite military fellowship
Secretary would cut program in Northeast
By: Angle Latham
Nashville Tennessean
USA Today Network - Tennessee
..... Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has named a numb of universities as potential new partners for elite military fellowships as part of his plan to "restore and maintain the warrior ethos" in higher education.
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A Department of War memo announced a geographic ideological shift from the department's previous partnerships with Ivy League universities to a list of schools that are largely located in the South, as well as a number of religious private schools.
..... "Professional Military Education is a bedrock upon which we build lethal war-fighters grounded in founding principles that underpin American exceptionalism,: the memo states. "To that end, our PME institution must return to the fundamental mission of focusing our military leaders on core national security strategy issues."
..... Hegseth said that Senior Service College fellowship programs, elite military education programs that train officers and civilians in national security issues, will be eliminated from certain universities for the 2026-2027 year. He pitched a revised list of "elite institutions" to replace those eliminated.
..... The 93 fellowships, canceled at 22 institutions, include those at Harvard University, Tufts University, Georgetown University, Brown University, Columbia University, Yale University, George Washington University, Center for a New American Security, Council on foreign Relations and many more.
..... All eliminated programs were located in the northeast.
..... "this decisive change will ensure our leaders receive a more rigorous and relevant education to better prepare them for the complexities of modern warfare and return our Forces to the original purpose of SSC's: the preparation of senior officers to be critical thinkers that can plan and integrate multi-domain, joint operations at echelon and serve (and think) at the strategic level," the statement reads.
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The list of potential partners includes names 21 universities, including University of Tennessee, Citadel Military Collage of South Carolina, Liberty University, Pepperdine University, Baylor University, Hillsdale Collage, University of North Carolina, University of North Georgia, George Mason University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and more.
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A small notation under the list states that these schools "meet the following criteria: intellectual freedom, minimal relationships with adversaries, minimal public expression in opposition of the Department, and graduate level security, international affairs, and/or public policy programs."
..... The February 27 [2026] memo stems from a previous directive earlier in February [2026] from Hegseth that ordered the cut of Harvard University from the military graduate programs and instructing the review of current programs at Ivy League universities and others.
..... Hegseth posted a video on social media about the cut, in which he claimed that Harvard and other institutions had "pervasive institutional bias" and were "no longer living up to their founding principles, as bastions of free speech, open inquiry, and committed to the American values that make our country great."
..... He also noted that Harvard University has the largest number of Medal of Honors recipients as compared to any other American university in history.
..... the educational shift is just one of many helmed by Hegseth. He initiated a ban on transgender troops in 2025, and in January 2026 ordered an evaluation of women in combat roles, according to a memo obtained by NPR.
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