Hegseth orders military academies to stop giving tenure to civilian faculty

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the U.S. military service academies on Tuesday 29 September to stop appointing civilians to tenured positions. 1 2 The Hill reports the memo also calls for hiring plans that prioritise "institutional flexibility and faculty contribution to the warfighting mission." 1 The memo says tenure often leads to "academic stagnation, faculty complacency, and institutional inability to adapt to emerging needs," and can pull curriculum toward the research priorities of tenured academics. 3 2

It also says the change addresses "structural mechanisms that have allowed civilian academic norms to dilute our focus on lethality." 2 The Associated Press, published by ABC, says the directive apparently would not remove tenure from current tenured faculty, and that the Pentagon gave no further details. 2 Civilians make up roughly half of the Naval Academy's faculty of about 600, according to AP, and about 25% at West Point, according to CBS. 2 3

CBS says the move comes two months after it reported that Pentagon officials were considering ending civilian tenure and reviewing courses judged "ideologically driven." 3 Both outlets place it within Hegseth's broader changes to military education, including cutting ties with Harvard and Princeton graduate programmes (CBS) and with prestigious universities (AP). 3 2 Advocates say tenure's job security is crucial to academic freedom, and a former Naval Academy superintendent called it a "wonderful recruiting tool" at a Senate hearing last year. 2 3

AP links the decision to conservative attacks on tenure, often presented as bids to rein in academics with liberal views; CBS recalls Hegseth's confirmation-hearing remark criticising civilian professors from "left-wing, woke universities." 2 3