Harvard University is outlining ways to continue educating active-duty military students despite an order from War Secretary Pete Hegseth that cut academic ties between the military and several Ivy League universities, including Harvard.
University officials are exploring workarounds that would allow service members to defer their admissions for up to four years or enroll through programs not directly funded or sponsored by the Department of War, according to a letter from the university obtained by Politico.
Students admitted to Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government have been granted expedited consideration for peer institutions, including the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago, Fletcher School at Tufts University, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
The move comes after Hegseth announced last month that the Pentagon would cancel fellowships, certificate programs, and graduate-level professional military education opportunities at Harvard beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
Hegseth framed the decision as part of a broader effort to cut ties with universities that he says promote ideology hostile to the military. He accused the Ivy League and similar schools of having “gorged” themselves on taxpayer dollars, “only to become factories of anti-American resentment and military disdain.”
The Harvard decision was the first step in what has since become a wider campaign targeting several Ivy League institutions. Hegeseth included universities such as Princeton, Yale, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the policy and ordered the Pentagon to stop sending officers to graduate programs there starting next academic year.
Harvard typically allows admitted students to defer for one year, but granting service members a four-year deferment could allow them to attend once a new president and administration are in office.
President Donald Trump’s administration has long clashed with elite universities, accusing institutions such as Harvard of tolerating antisemitism and promoting “woke ideology.”
Harvard has not had an easy go of things under Trump. Prior to Hegseth’s announcement, the Justice Department sued Harvard for allegedly unlawfully withholding documents about race-based admissions.
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The DOJ alleged that for more than 10 months, Harvard failed to provide individualized applicant data and other records requested by the department as part of a compliance review under federal civil rights law.
The case dates back to April 2025, when the Justice Department initiated compliance reviews of Harvard’s undergraduate, law, and medical school admissions programs following a 2023 federal judge’s ruling that the university had violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
