WASHINGTON, United States: The Pentagon is to cut all academic ties with Harvard University, ending military education, fellowships and certificate programs, it said in a statement on Friday.
The move is the latest in the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard over claims that the Ivy League institution promotes “woke” ideology.
“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,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in the statement.
“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.”
The Pentagon said the severance of ties would begin in the 2026-2027 school year, with military personnel attending classes able to finish their studies.
In a separate post on X using his preferred term for the Department of Defense, Hegseth said: “Harvard is woke; The War Department is not.”
Hegseth said the Pentagon would review its ties with all Ivy League colleges for military training and education.
“The goal is to determine whether or not they actually deliver cost-effective strategic education for future senior leaders when compared to, say, public universities and our military graduate programs,” he said.
Hegseth is himself an Ivy Leaguer, graduating from both Princeton and Harvard, though he reportedly sent his degree back to the latter institution, and the former Fox News host had criticized it on air for its allegedly left-leaning policies.
President Donald Trump on Monday said that his administration would seek $1 billion in damages from Harvard after a New York Times report said the college had won some concessions in ongoing settlement negotiations with the government.
Trump administration officials have accused Harvard and other colleges of failing to sufficiently protect Jewish students during pro-Palestinian protests, filing legal complaints and demanding exorbitant payouts.
The Trump administration’s pressure on universities has sparked some academics, including Harvard’s former president, to raise concerns about the possibility of eroding academic freedom.
Trump has previously sought to cut more than $2.6 billion of funding to Harvard, and has moved to block the entry of international students — a quarter of its student body.
Pentagon to cut academic ties with Harvard: statement
https://arab.news/wrx67
Pentagon to cut academic ties with Harvard: statement
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, on X: ‘Harvard is woke; The War Department is not’
- Pentagon to review its ties with all Ivy League colleges for military training and education
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
