Pete Hegseth Bans Affirmative Action at Military Service Academies
“The schools have until the end of the 2026 admissions cycle to comply.”
This is obviously one of the reasons why Democrats and the media have been after Hegseth from the beginning. He is making changes that they can’t stand.
The Military Times reports:
Hegseth bans affirmative action at military service academies
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has barred the U.S. military service academies from considering race, gender or ethnicity in their admissions processes, ending the practice of affirmative action upheld by the Supreme Court two years ago.
In a memo published Friday, Hegseth directed the schools to rank applicants by an aggregate score factoring in athletic ability, past military experience and other qualifications.
“It is the department’s expectation that the highest-ranking candidates within each nomination category should receive appointments,” Hegseth wrote.
The schools have until the end of the 2026 admissions cycle to comply.
The U.S. military’s service academies, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Air Force Academy, are among the most elite universities in the country, selecting applicants who often go on to promising careers in the armed forces.
The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action for universities nationally in 2023, ruling 6-3 against considering race in the admissions process. In the court’s decision, however, Chief Justice John Roberts permitted an exception for U.S. military schools, arguing the schools held “potentially distinct interests” in continuing the practice.
A year later, the court declined to take up a separate case related directly to affirmative action at the academies.
Since entering office, Hegseth has continually targeted areas of the military that take race and gender into account, repeatedly declaring “DEI is dead” at the Pentagon. In an earlier memo, published in January, Hegseth banned the teaching of what he called “critical race theory” across the Defense Department and included separate instruction for the service academies.
“The U.S. Service Academies and other defense academic institutions shall teach that America and its founding documents remain the most powerful force for good in human history,” he wrote.
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Comments
Nothing wrong with banning Democrat supported systemic racism.
Banning it is not sufficient. Going to have to vet the staff especially the leaders of the academies.
Having incompetent Blacks, women, etc. who have no business in the nations military universities should result in any administrator who participated in this outrage should be immediately separated from the military with a dishonorable discharge.. Those admitted based on non objective criteria should also be immediately separated from the US military. War is not a game.