US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Feb. 27 that the Department of War, previously the Department of Defense, would be severing ties with several elite universities, including five of the eight Ivy League schools and others like MIT and Georgetown. Included in that same announcement were suggestions of “potential new partner institutions,” which named conservative Christian schools Liberty University and Hillsdale College and several public universities — most notably, the University of North Carolina.
The memo states the Pentagon is “strategically refocusing the education of its senior officers” by discontinuing the partnerships, and the Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness will lead the enforcement of the directive. Anthony J. Tata, a former secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation and Wake County Public Schools System superintendent, currently serves in that role.
The Senior Service College fellowships serve a relatively small population, but the goals of the program are to help senior officers further understand national security strategy and grow leadership and critical-thinking skills. Just 93 individuals are currently studying at the 22 institutions where fellowships are being discontinued, which also includes nonprofit think tanks. Those officers will be able to complete the program they’re currently in.
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“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 states.
“… This decisive change will ensure our leaders receive a more rigorous and relevant education to better prepare them for the complexities of modern warfare and return our Force to the original purpose of SSCs: the preparation of senior officers to be critical thinkers that can plan and integrate multi-domain Joint operations at echelon and serve (and think) at the strategic level.”
As for the potential replacement universities, the memo suggests UNC and the other 14 civilian universities, three think tanks and three senior military colleges as potential partners because they meet the criteria of “intellectual freedom, minimal relationships with adversaries, minimal public expressions in opposition of the Department, and Graduate-level National Security, International Affairs, and/or Public Policy Programs.”
A UNC spokesperson provided Carolina Public Press with the following statement from Chancellor Lee Roberts.
“We are proud that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been identified as a potential education partner for future Senior Service College Fellowship students completing their Professional Military Education.
“Our University has a long and distinguished history of educating and collaborating with military leaders through broad, pan-university academic offerings that span public policy, global affairs, national security, public health, business, law, data science, leadership and emerging technologies. These opportunities are embedded across our schools and colleges and are designed to engage students in rigorous, interdisciplinary scholarship alongside distinguished faculty and accomplished peers.
“Carolina’s mission is to serve as a premier center for research, scholarship and creativity, challenging students to think critically and preparing them to lead with integrity and impact. We are honored to be considered for the Senior Service College Fellowship and, if selected, stand ready to support the continued development of our nation’s senior military leaders.”
Though the memo suggests the federal government views UNC as an ally, the university and President Donald Trump have had something of an up-and-down relationship in recent years.
In 2024, Trump’s campaign invited UNC fraternity members to speak at the Republican National Convention after they held up the American flag during a pro-Palestine protest. Trump shared a video to social media praising the students that said, “While campuses struggle to get control of their students, at UNC-Chapel Hill, they are bringing order back.”
In response to Trump’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion in higher ed, the UNC System told its universities they could no longer mandate DEI-related course requirements after already purging its DEI policy months prior. While Trump’s executive order led to changes similar to this one across the country, a handful of universities defied the order and found themselves at odds with the administration.
“Even though some form of additional federal guidance is expected, and the law in this area remains unsettled, the risk of jeopardizing over $1.4 (billion) in critical federal research funding is simply too great to defer action,” UNC System General Counsel Andrew Tripp said in the February 2025 memo suspending DEI course requirements.
Despite UNC following the guidelines, the Trump administration canceled $38.4 million in research grants to the university in 2025.
UNC Chancellor Roberts then said last November he would not sign on to Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” deal offered to all higher education institutions only after it was presented to and denied by nine other schools, calling it an infringement on academic freedom.
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