Hegseth orders military academies to end tenure for civilian faculty

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has signed a memo ordering military service academies to stop granting tenure to civilian professors. The directive applies to institutions like the Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Hegseth wrote that tenure “often leads to academic stagnation, faculty complacency, and institutional inability to adapt to emerging needs.” He also argued that tenure “contributes to curriculum that drifts from the mission of educating our warfighters to the research priorities of the tenured academics.” His stated goal is to “address the structural mechanisms that have allowed civilian academic norms to dilute our focus on lethality.”

The Memo’s Core Argument

Hegseth’s memo points to two linked problems. Tenure, he argues, makes professors less responsive to changing military needs because they hold permanent positions. That permanence, he says, pushes curricula away from preparing warfighters and toward the research interests of the professors themselves.

The argument rests on a simple claim: tenure rewards stability over adaptability. A professor who can’t be fired loses the incentive to change what they teach, even when the military’s needs shift.

What the CBS Report Found

The move follows a CBS News report from two months ago that top Pentagon officials were considering ending civilian tenure and launching a “line-by-line” review of courses. Classes judged to be “ideologically driven” would be eliminated.

About 25% of the faculty at West Point are civilians. The Naval Academy has roughly equal numbers of civilians and officers.

Pushback From Inside the Academies

During a Senate hearing last year, Vice Adm. Yvette Davids, then-superintendent of the Naval Academy, called tenure a “wonderful recruiting tool” that attracts “the best and the brightest.” Retired Lt. Gen. Steven Gilland, former superintendent of the Military Academy, told lawmakers last year the school equips future military leaders with “the intellectual agility needed to make critical decisions in the chaos of war.”

Both defended the current system.

The Broader Context

The Pentagon has been moving against civilian influence across higher education. Library books addressing race and gender have been scrutinized since Hegseth took office. The military has cut ties with graduate programs at Harvard and Princeton. And the Pentagon has directed the military to halt all instruction on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Hegseth suggested during his Senate confirmation hearings last year that he planned to take aim at civilian faculty, saying “We need more uniformed members going back into West Point, the Air Force Academy, the Naval Academy as a tour to teach with their wisdom of what they’ve learned in uniform, instead of just more civilian professors that came from the same left-wing, woke universities.”

Key Facts

• Memo signed: Tuesday
• Institutions affected: Military Academy at West Point, Naval Academy in Annapolis
• Faculty breakdown at West Point: About 25% civilian
• Naval Academy faculty: Roughly equal numbers of civilians and officers
• CBS report: Two months ago
• Library scrutiny: Since Hegseth took office
• Cut ties: Graduate programs at Harvard and Princeton
• Instruction halted: Diversity, equity and inclusion

The Sequence of Moves

1. Library books addressing race and gender have been scrutinized.
2. Ties with graduate programs at Harvard and Princeton have been cut.
3. All instruction on diversity, equity and inclusion has been halted.
4. Now tenure is being ended for civilian faculty.

Each move targets a different piece of university life. The sequence shows a steady narrowing of protections for faculty and curricula at military institutions.

Source material: “Hegseth directs military academies to stop giving tenure to civilian professors,” CBS News.

military academies · Naval Academy · Pete Hegseth · tenure · West Point