Hegseth bars ‘race-based’ admissions goals, DEI curriculum at military academies

Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Defense will prohibit “sex-based, race-based or ethnicity-based” goals for academic admissions at the three military colleges under its purview, per a Wednesday memo from newly confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
• The memo also directs the institutions — the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy — to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion offices and programming, in line with President Donald Trump’s recent wave of executive orders.
• To that end, the memo prohibits DEI-related curriculum and requires the military academies to teach that “America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history.”

Dive Insight:

Hegseth’s memo comes after Trump last week signed an executive order the secretaries of defense and homeland security to scrutinize military academies’ leadership, instructors and curriculum with the goal of eliminating DEI offices and initiatives. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which has not yet issued public guidance on the matter, oversees the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

Like Trump, Hegseth has heavily criticized DEI efforts, both as a television host for Fox News and in his new federal role.

DEI is “incompatible with the values” of the Defense Department, he said in his memo. “The DoD will strive to provide merit-based, color-blind, equal opportunities to Service members but will not guarantee or strive for equal outcomes.”

Moving forward, no part of the Defense Department, including its military colleges, can “provide instruction on Critical Race Theory (CRT), DEI, or gender ideology,” the memo said, addressing three common conservative talking points.

A Day 1 executive order from Trump barred federal funding from being used to promote the idea that gender is not binary and can be self-determined, among other “false” topics. 

The order labeled these ideas as part of “gender ideology,” a term anti-hate advocacy organizations say is frequently used by anti-LGBTQ+ groups. The order also called these notions incompatible with its definition of biological sex — an immutable binary based on an individual’s reproductive cells — which diverges from guidance issued by the American Medical Association.

Conservative critics of education about race and ethnicity have often used DEI interchangeably with CRT, which is a college-level academic framework that teaches racism is systemic.

It is unclear to what degree, if any, these concepts are part of the curriculum at the nation’s military academies. 

Neither the Naval nor Air Force academies responded to media requests Monday.

When asked how this memo would impact operations at West Point, an academy spokesperson directed questions to the Defense Department. 

“Department of Defense will fully execute and implement all directives outlined in the Executive Orders issued by the President, ensuring that they are carried out with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives,” a department spokesperson said Monday.

The statement is identical to one issued last week by an Air Force Academy spokesperson in response to Trump’s executive order.

The Defense Department does not have full-time workers assigned to DEI roles and does not expect to fire anyone as a result of the orders, officials told Stars and Stripes last week.

Wednesday’s memo bars the use of sex-, race- and ethnicity-based quotas, objectives and goals in admissions and hiring. Racial quotas in college admissions have been considered illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court since the landmark 1978 case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. 

The Supreme Court also barred race-conscious admissions — which considers an applicants’ race among other factors — in 2023, though it exempted military academies from the decision.

A Defense Department spokesperson did not clarify Monday if the memo also prohibits the use of race-conscious admissions at the three military academies, though Hegseth’s memo stresses that the agency must follow “color-blind policies.”

Leaders in the armed forces had advocated to keep race-conscious admissions at the nation’s military academies. In a court filing before the 2023 ruling, dozens of highly ranked former military leaders argued that the practice is essential to maintaining “a diverse, highly effective officer corps,” as well as the “continued vitality of the U.S. military.”

The Biden administration similarly argued that maintaining a diverse service corps is a “national security imperative.” 

Chief Justice John Roberts ultimately said in a footnote in the 2023 ruling that military colleges have “potentially distinct interests” from civilian colleges, separating them from the court’s decision.

But military colleges faced backlash shortly thereafter. Students for Fair Admissions, the anti-affirmative action group that successfully brought the Supreme Court case, is suing the Naval Academy, West Point and the Air Force Academy over their use of race-conscious admissions. 

In December, a federal judge upheld the use of race-conscious admissions at the Naval Academy, but SFFA quickly appealed the decision. 

During his confirmation process, Hegseth told lawmakers that he opposed the use of race-conscious admissions at the military academies, according to Reuters. 

“I reject the idea that the MSAs (military service academies) should have different standards for individuals with different skin colors,” Hegseth said in response to follow-up questions after his hearing.