On Monday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke at the Naval War College in Newport. During his fiery speech on the dangers of civilianizing military education, he announced that he had cut the NWC’s ties with Brown. He commented that “the only place more stridently ideological in one direction more than Columbia or Harvard is Brown.” But his announcement that he had directed the end of the 2014 Research and Education Memorandum of Agreement between Brown and the NWC was only a blip in his half-hour speech. The attack on Brown, however brief, follows a pattern of insults to the many Brunonians who served their country in the military. Brown and its military-affiliated students have made impressive strides in the past 15 years to ensure our community is welcoming to our service members and prepare students for service careers. By disrespecting that community, Hegseth dishonors these students.
I am not enlisted in the American Armed Forces, nor do I plan on doing so after graduating. But I share a campus with Brown’s 53 Reserve Officers’ Training Corps students, 67 undergraduate student veterans and 90 graduate student veterans. These students have made, and will continue to make, countless sacrifices in service of our country. As my Herald Opinion colleague Tas Rahman ’26 MD’30 argued last semester, the relationship between Brown and the military is mutually beneficial.
While the secretary of defense may complain about “critical theory and the corrosive apparatus of diversity, equity and inclusion,” he misses the important work that Brown is doing to expand its education to service members. At this year’s Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday, President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 expressed the University’s commitment to military-affiliated students and shared efforts taken under her leadership to grow and support this student community. From 2019 to 2023, the University more than doubled its enrollment of military veterans. Last year, Brown expanded its participation in the federal Yellow Ribbon Program, which, in addition to covering undergraduate veterans’ tuition, will now provide financial support to veterans seeking graduate degrees. The University also expanded its veterans peer-mentorship program into the Cisneros Veterans Scholars Program in 2025, pairing new student veterans with mentors as they move from service to academics. And in just one year, Brown expanded its veteran graduate student enrollment from 38 to 90. The University is currently tied for third in the nation in U.S. News and World Report’s ranking of the best colleges for veterans. The ceremony also included an announcement for a new award to a graduating student for work in supporting Brown’s military-affiliated community. It is clear that the University is dedicated to providing a quality education to veterans and future service members and that doing so is “central to our mission.”
Ending the NWC’s partnership with Brown risks alienating military-affiliated students from potential war college mentors. Through the partnership, NWC and Brown have collaborated on research, visiting fellowships and annual lectures to address national security concerns. The NWC is the Navy’s senior war college, where mid-career and senior officers train for top command, and was a valuable academic partner for the University. Brown students wishing to learn from or conduct research with senior service members cannot do so anymore because of Hegseth’s gratuitous attacks on elite education. For the five Navy midshipmen, three Air Force cadets and 13 Army cadets who took their oath of enlistment at the University’s Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday, Hegseth’s decision uniquely severs their opportunities to learn from the NWC’s senior military officers.
The timing of Hegseth’s speech in Newport could not have been worse. His disregard for Brown’s military-affiliated students two days before Veterans Day is disgraceful. Generations of Brunonians have bravely sacrificed their lives in service of their nation. Two hundred and sixty-eight Brunonians died while serving our country in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. But Hegseth’s history of disrespecting veterans extends beyond Brown: On Veterans Day this week, an Army sentinel reprimanded Hegseth and his entourage for breaking decorum at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
At Wednesday’s ceremony, Paxson voiced her disappointment with Hegseth’s decision. She expressed that this change and the Pentagon’s cancellation of the military fellowship program at Brown in February were “especially saddening” given all of the work that has been done in recent years to support these students. While her words were more diplomatic, I will put it bluntly: No matter what Brown does, Hegseth cares more about his tirade against the woke ivory tower than actually supporting service members.
Perhaps what is most striking is that Brown has yet to turn its back on the military. Instead, the University has furthered its commitment to supporting those who have sacrificed for our freedoms. Every day, as you walk from the Main Green to the Sciences Quadrangle, you pass through Soldiers Memorial Gate, which honors the 42 Brown community members who died in World War I. As you walk through those gates, I encourage you to follow in the Brunonian spirit instead of listening to Hegseth’s spite, and to consider the words inscribed on the arch: “They gave their merry youth away for country and for God.”
Ethan Canfield ’28 can be reached at ethan_canfield@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
Ethan Canfield is the head of the Editorial Page Board and an opinions editor. He previously was a columnist and a copy editor for the Herald. He is a junior from Houston, Texas and is studying Applied Mathematics-Biology.
