Cmu fallout ripples as UMich is tapped for new Pentagon fellowships

For military officers applying to the senior service college fellowship, the first practical question is often where they will spend 10 months studying leadership, policy, and strategy. Now the answer may include the University of Michigan, as the Pentagon shifts its roster of university partners and ends other long-running relationships that have shaped where officers can go. The change lands in the same conversation that has included cmu.

Pete Hegseth’s Feb. 27 memo puts the University of Michigan on a new list

A memorandum published Feb. 27 by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth named the University of Michigan as a new potential partner institution for the Department of War’s senior service college fellowships program. The same announcement also terminated several existing partnerships, including all five partnerships with Ivy League institutions and partnerships with private institutions including Georgetown University and Tufts University.

Other potential new partnerships listed in the memorandum include public universities such as the University of Florida and the University of Nebraska. The changes are set to take effect during the 2026-2027 academic year, reshaping the set of universities where officers can complete parts of the program.

The senior service college fellowship routes officers through the United States Army War College

The SSC fellowship is described as a 10-month educational leadership development program designed to provide national security, policy, and strategy education to military officers. After completing their fellowships, officers can advance to more senior positions.

Enrollees receive training at the United States Army War College and at partnered universities, which are referred to as professional military education institutions. The memo’s shift, then, is more than administrative: it changes which campuses count as part of the professional military education pathway.

Michigan’s Kay Jarvis outlines an expedited review pathway tied to Harvard’s Kennedy School

In an email, University spokesperson Kay Jarvis acknowledged the potential partnership and said the University will have an expedited review process for military applicants who have been accepted into Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Jarvis wrote that Harvard has lost its PWE designation and will no longer be hosting the SSC fellowship.

Jarvis said the University is establishing the expedited review process so active-duty military leaders can have their credentials considered “without the burden of a redundant application, ” and so they can receive timely decisions. The message frames the adjustment as a practical change for service members navigating shifting institutional options.

Hegseth’s memo explains the rationale for ending ties with terminated universities. He wrote that he was unsatisfied with the education provided by current partner universities, and that the new partnerships are intended to instill American ideals in military officers. In the memo, he wrote: “Our PME institutions must return to the fundamental mission of focusing our military leaders on core national security strategy issues, ” adding that education should be grounded in “the founding principles and documents of the republic, embracing peace through strength and American ideals, and focused on our national strategies. ”

The memo also stated that the terminated universities have failed to sufficiently train military personnel and have undermined “the very values they are sworn to defend. ” In a video posted on X on Feb. 27, Hegseth accused the terminated institutions of misusing federal funding and inciting anti-American sentiment. As the 2026-2027 academic year approaches, schools newly named as potential partners, including Michigan, face the immediate work of aligning processes for applicants and clarifying what the new map of fellowship placements will look like for officers weighing their next step. The reshuffle remains part of a broader debate that has also touched cmu.