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Joseph Gonzalez
‘28
A topic of recent debate in the media and on college campuses is the Pentagon’s decision to sever ties with several Ivy League and elite universities. This includes Princeton University. This move follows Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s characterization of these institutions as “ Woke Breeding Grounds.” The goal is not to prevent these men and women from attending college but instead to direct them towards institutions more ideologically aligned with the viewpoints of the current administration. While this is the administration's prerogative, as someone who has served in both the Marine Corps and the Army as an infantryman, and am now a Princeton student myself, I am skeptical about this move.
Active-duty military members should not be barred from educational choices if given the opportunity, especially at a time when attending college can determine your future, and where you have gone to school matters. It is also a blow aimed at the wrong people.
One of the most troubling assumptions behind this policy is that military personnel are somehow uniquely vulnerable to ideological indoctrination. It must be assumed that they will simply accept whatever worldview dominates a campus without question, or else why implement a policy like this? These are the leaders tasked with thinking critically and making the right decisions even under the most stressful circumstances. This policy does not reflect the trust and respect the country bestows on these men and women, whose sacrifices we are usually reminded of during periods of conflict. They may be the last people on earth who need to be protected from “woke” ideology. It stifles speech to assume that these institutions will indoctrinate members of the military, instead of recognizing their experiences and viewpoints as potential sources of positive change.
While I believe the Ivy League institutions have earned the criticism they receive for political bias and for excluding conservative and other heterodox viewpoints, I also believe that those who value free speech and viewpoint diversity should be particularly cautious when the federal government starts deciding which institutions service members can or cannot attend. That is a form of heavy-handed government intervention. It should concern all those who value limited government and freedom of thought. There is no doubt that elite universities have, in many cases, created the conditions for this backlash. However, recognizing the problem is not the same as endorsing every government response to it.
Conservatives in particular should understand the danger of allowing the federal government to decide which schools are acceptable and which are not. It can become another tool of bureaucracy and political enforcement, and such decisions are likely to be reversed by the next administration, thereby punishing only those currently serving. Universities will survive. Politicians will move on. But active-duty service members who plan their futures around educational opportunities may be the ones left paying the price. This is what makes the policy so shortsighted.
There is a deeper contradiction here. The same people who rightly criticize universities for suppressing speech and viewpoint diversity should hesitate before endorsing a government policy like this. The answer to ideological gatekeeping on campus cannot be ideological gatekeeping by the state. For those who believe that these institutions are beyond reform, this measure seems to suggest that even members of the military will succumb to prevailing orthodoxy. In the quiet corners of a study hall or after class, students and professors alike will ask for opinions on topics that may seem taboo to discuss aloud. Those service members would be welcome additions and could only broaden the conversation to include more diverse viewpoints and perspectives.
I am especially sensitive to this because I went from a GED to community college and then transitioned to Princeton. I know firsthand what education can mean for someone whose path was non-traditional. I also know that higher education, despite its flaws, can open doors that might otherwise remain shut. For service members, that opportunity matters all the more, because it often comes after years of sacrifice and the delay of one's own life’s ambitions. Those in the military know that they cannot wear the uniform forever. I also believe it makes the most sense to put your life on the line in defense of this nation when you can have something to look forward to.
Policymakers and citizens alike should be careful that the costs of this new policy do not fall most heavily on the men and women currently serving. They have already pledged their lives on a dotted line; it would be nice to see that name on a vaunted institution's degree.
Joseph Gonzalez '28 is an Army and Marine Corps combat veteran and transfer student from Brentwood, NY, majoring in History. He is a PFS Writing Fellow.
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Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, top colleges and universities have faced an onslaught of federal attacks: slashing grant money for research, pressuring schools to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, cracking down on visas for international students, and ending graduate program sponsorship for active duty military at top schools. However, some Ivy League universities — the center of many of Trump’s ongoing attacks — have decreased messaging on the potential consequences of these federal directives.
“One thing that’s been clear is that a lot of universities have felt that publicity would bring no advantage or do them no good,” history professor David Bell GS ’91, who has been outspoken about federal actions against universities, said in an interview with The Daily Princetonian.
As a professor who is known to dissent from progressive ideologies that are dominant at universities such as Princeton, where I’ve taught for nearly 40 years, I’m frequently asked by students for advice about how to navigate a campus they worry will be hostile to them. Some are pro-Israel, or politically and socially conservative, or religiously observant.
They fear being treated unfairly by faculty members who are hostile to their beliefs. Many are afraid of being regarded as outcasts by their more liberal or progressive peers. They worry about being excluded from academic opportunities or not treated equitably in social or other extracurricular activities. To these students I say, with regret: You’re right to worry. I’ve seen these things happen.
Universities may be tempted to treat these capabilities as inevitable improvements in education. Students will be able to consume vast amounts of information, more than ever before. But like AI writing itself, such consumption would be vast but shallow. The more interesting possibility, then, is that AI will force universities to rediscover the value of intellectual work that cannot be outsourced.
