Pentagon Eyes University of Florida Grad Program Partnership for Troops

On Friday, the U.S. Department of War, formerly the Defense Department, announced it will cut academic ties with nearly two dozen think tanks and universities over their “toxic indoctrination” and “wokeness.”

In a social media video, U.S. Secretary of Defense (who has dubbed himself the “Secretary of War”) Pete Hegseth slammed the Ivy League and “similar institutions” for subjecting military service members to “wokeness” and teaching them to “despise the very nation they swore to defend.”

“This is not education, it’s indoctrination,” Hegseth, an Ivy League graduate himself, said in the video posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “It’s a calculated, targeted assault on the core of our fighting force, and it’s a betrayal that we will no longer tolerate. The Department of War is finished subsidizing the corruption of our own uniform class.”

Beginning in the 2026-2027 school year, according to the “Rebuilding the Warrior Ethos in Professional Military Education” memo, the Defense Department will prohibit service members from enrolling in graduate programs and fellowships at several institutions, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University, Georgetown University, Tufts University, and Queen’s University in Canada. The think-tanks on the list include the Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations, and Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“We will no longer invest in institutions that fail to sharpen our leaders’ warfighting capabilities or that undermine the very values they are sworn to defend,” the memo continued.

The Defense Department said it plans to replace those institutions with new partners, such as the University of Florida and the University of Tennessee. The department also listed three private, conservative Christian colleges: Liberty University, Hillsdale College, and Regent University.

“These institutions meet the following criteria: intellectual freedom, minimal relationships with adversaries, minimal public expressions in opposition [sic] of the Department, and Graduate-level National Security, International Affairs, and/or Public Policy Programs,” the memo reads.

Here is the full list of potential new partner institutions:

• Senior Military Colleges
  • The Citadel Military College of South Carolina
  • University of North Georgia
  • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• DoW/USG Programs
  • Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies
  • William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies
  • Africa Center for Strategic Studies
• Civilian Education Institutions
  • Liberty University
  • George Mason University
  • Pepperdine University
  • University of Tennessee
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Nebraska
  • Iowa State University
  • University of North Carolina
  • Clemson University
  • Arizona State University
  • Baylor University
  • University of Florida
  • Regent University
  • Auburn University
  • Hillsdale College

Additionally, Department of Defense emails leaked last month indicated that the University of Miami is among more than 30 schools where tuition aid may be banned for its graduate programs.