5 Colleges Will Develop Cadet Corps

Five additional colleges and universities will develop cadet corps—a broader form of military-aligned education than Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday. While unveiling the new institutions his department is partnering with, Hegseth again criticized a wide swath of colleges as anti-American.

In a memo and speech, Hegseth announced that Hillsdale College and Liberty, Louisiana State, Mississippi State and Tuskegee Universities will be dubbed distinguished military colleges, a label the military once used but abandoned. Hillsdale and Liberty are conservative Christian institutions, while Tuskegee is a historically Black university. The department didn’t respond to Inside Higher Ed’s request for comment about how it chose the institutions.

“The demand for grounded, strong and honorable leaders has never been more urgent,” Hegseth said during his State of the Force Address at Marine Corps Base Quantico. “Tomorrow’s leaders can’t simply manage crisis, they have to thrive within it while maintaining their true north compass heading. Only leaders of character, who cherish our Constitution and love our country, should lead our great military.”

The program is another example of Hegseth overhauling the military’s relationship with higher ed institutions, putting some highly selective institutions out of favor while elevating others. He has canceled fellowship programs with institutions such as Harvard and Yale Universities, while adding fellowships at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Virginia Tech. His messages about continued changes have sometimes been confusing as to what particular partnerships he’s ending.

Beyond the service academies, such as the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, there are currently six congressionally designated senior military colleges: the Citadel, Norwich University, Texas A&M University, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Tech and the University of North Georgia. These institutions all have cadet corps, which train military officers but also include students who don’t intend to enter the armed forces.

“After that, we rely on a wide variety of commissioning sources, many from institutions that have drifted—in some cases, have careened—away from founding values,” Hegseth said in his speech. He went on to say Ivy League universities and most liberal arts colleges have become “anti-American, DEI-worshipping woke factories.”

“We need students of Western civilization and the pillars of our Republic, leaders who understand the faith of Jerusalem, the philosophy of Athens, the power of Rome and the freedom of Philadelphia, circa 1776,” he said.

Through a program called America’s Corps of Cadets, he said the department is partnering with these five new “premier higher ed institutions” to establish their cadet corps and will give their students “priority in officer commissioning.”

“There are a number more that we plan to announce soon,” Hegseth said.

Hillsdale College president Larry P. Arnn said in a statement that his institution was “honored at this chance to be of service and grateful to the Department of War for the opportunity.“

He said the institution’s long history and curriculum make it “the best preparation for leadership in all its forms, including that stern form necessary in the military.”

Louisiana State University Commandant of Cadets Joseph Musacchia told Inside Higher Ed the distinguished military colleges must meet four criteria:

• Request the status from the department secretary;
• Establish a four-year military or national security program;
• Host a distinct and self-governed student military organization (cadet corps) led by an independent commandant who reports to the university president; and
• Require cadets to wear uniforms during all academic hours.

Musacchia, a retired Air Force colonel, said the department approached LSU about the opportunity. He said LSU’s long history with the military—Union General William Tecumseh Sherman was its first superintendent—included 108 years when it required all men to be in its cadet corps. He said that requirement ended amid the Vietnam War protests, and the corps essentially “went into a coma.”

LSU still maintained Army and Air Force ROTC programs, while it sent students to Southern University to train in its Navy ROTC program, Musacchia said. But next year, he said, it’s opening up its cadet corps to students who aren’t in ROTC, and it’s bringing back consistent uniforms. A “National Security Battalion” will consist of students who want to serve in government and business and learn leadership through a military structure, he said.

Hegseth’s memo said the distinguished military college designation is a “stepping-stone toward becoming” a senior military college. While Musacchia said that designation would require Congress’s approval, he said LSU already “is an SMC in all but name.”