The announcement marks the latest development in the Trump administration long standoff at Harvard of the White House’s demands for Ivy League school reforms.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement Friday that Harvard “no longer meets the needs of the War Department or the military services.”

“For too long, this department has sent our best and brightest officers to Harvard, hoping that the university would better understand and appreciate our warrior class,” Hegseth said. “Instead, too many of our officers came back like Harvard – heads full of globalist and radical ideologies that did not improve our ranks in the fight.”

In a separate post on XHegseth wrote, “Harvard is awake; the War Department is not.”

Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, the Pentagon will discontinue graduate-level professional military education, fellowships and certificate programs, the statement said. Staff members currently taking classes at Harvard will be able to complete the courses.

Similar programs at other Ivy League universities will be reviewed in the coming weeks, Hegseth said.

Hegseth earned a master’s degree from Harvard but symbolically returned his diploma in 2022 Fox News segment. A Pentagon social media account run by Hegseth’s office reposted the clip in which Hegseth, who is a Fox News commentator, returned the diploma and wrote “Return to Sender” on it with a marker.

The military offers its officers a variety of opportunities to obtain graduate-level education at military-run war colleges as well as civilian institutions such as Harvard.

Overall, while opportunities to attend prestigious civilian schools offer less direct benefit to a servicemember’s military career than their civilian counterparts, they can help make troops more attractive employees once they leave the military.

Harvard has long been a top target of President Donald Trump in his administration’s campaign to bring down the nation’s most prestigious university. His officials cut billions of dollars in federal research funding to Harvard and tried to prevent it enrollment of foreign students after the campus refused a series of demands from the government in April.

The White House said it was punishing Harvard for allowing anti-Jewish bias on campus. Harvard leaders argued that they faced illegal retaliation for failing to adopt the administration’s ideological views. Harvard sued the administration in a pair of cases. A federal judge issued orders in favor of Harvard in both cases. The administration appealed.

Tensions eased over the summer as Trump teased a deal he said was days away. It never did and on Monday the president dug in, demanding $1 billion from Harvard as part of any deal to restore federal funding. He had asked twice before.

___

Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from several private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropists, a list of supporters and funded areas covered by AP.org.