The U.S. Department of Defense will cease granting tenure to new civilian faculty members at the nation’s military service academies, following a directive issued by Secretary Pete Hegseth on September 29. The decision is intended to realign the academies’ missions with their focus on preparing officers for warfighting roles.

The memorandum characterizes tenure—typically a lifetime academic appointment—as fostering “academic stagnation, faculty complacency, and institutional inability to adapt to emerging needs.” It also criticizes the traditional role of tenured professors for contributing to curricula that stray from the primary goal of educating military leaders toward research agendas favored by tenured academics. However, current civilian faculty who already hold tenure will retain their status under the new policy.

The military academies—West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the U.S. Air Force Academy—include sizable civilian teaching staffs, especially at the Naval Academy, where civilians constitute about half of the roughly 600 faculty members. These instructors bring expertise in disciplines uncommon in the military training pipeline, such as English and the humanities, which contribute to the academies’ broader educational mission.

Legal studies and political science professor Eric Merriam, who taught previously at the Air Force Academy, noted that the academies have historically balanced military preparation with a traditional four-year liberal arts education. He emphasized that senior military leaders benefit from being critical thinkers capable of understanding diverse perspectives. Merriam described the tenure policy shift as a narrowing of this dual mission, effectively marking a "retrenchment" and a move away from inclusive, elite academic standards.

The change at the academies is part of a wider restructuring underway within the Defense Department’s education system. Earlier this year, the Pentagon ended longstanding partnerships with prestigious universities previously influential in military leadership development, opting instead to establish new ties with Christian colleges and public institutions. The Pentagon has also sought to reorient educational programs for military families, introducing courses emphasizing Western civilization and Christianity to promote patriotic values and classical learning.

Efforts to reform tenure within the academies align with broader conservative critiques of tenure in higher education, frequently framed as attempts to counter perceived ideological biases among faculty. Advocates for tenure argue that job security is essential to protect academic freedom, especially amid contentious debates over topics such as history, race, gender, and sexuality.

In response to inquiries, representatives from the military academies and the Pentagon declined to provide additional details about the policy and its implementation.