UNC Wins. The Ivies Whine.

The Department of War (DoW) has announced that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be among 19 new hosts of the Senior Service College Fellowship. 

The ten-month program, focused on the education of senior military officers, was previously hosted by thirteen prestigious universities, including Harvard, Brown, Columbia, and MIT. Nine non-profits, including the Brookings Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations, also hosted the fellowship. In total, the cancellation impacted 93 fellowships.

The Department of War first named UNC as a “potential new partner institution” in a February 2026 memorandum. The exact number of fellowship slots hosted at UNC, and whether or not any of the other “potential new partner institutions” will host the fellowship as well, has not been announced.

According to the memorandum, the new institutions, unlike the old ones, meet the following four criteria: 1) intellectual freedom; 2) minimal relationships with adversaries; 3) minimal public expressions in opposition of the Department; and 4) Graduate level National Security, International Affairs, and/or Public Policy Programs. 

Opponents of the decision will describe these criteria as a mere pretext to bash their political opponents in “the academy.” We should set that kind of psychological conjecture aside.

For intellectual freedom, there really is no debate to be had. UNC has an excellent record in that area. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ranks UNC’s academic environment higher than any previous host institution, by far. They have their School of Civic Life and Leadership. They have endorsed the Chicago Principles. And recently, they have begun publicly releasing their syllabi. As for “minimal relationships with adversaries,” they have certainly got Harvard, with its Kennedy School’s partnership with the Chinese Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, beat, as War Secretary Hegseth pointed out in his initial video announcing Harvard’s exclusion from the fellowship. As for “minimal public expressions in opposition of the Department,” UNC doesn’t seem to have done any of that recently, which is good—universities so often issue statements on matters of political life, when it really is not their place. UNC also easily meets the graduate programming requirement.

By selecting UNC for this fellowship, the Department of War has shown a reprioritization of robust civic education in the formation of America’s military personnel…

By selecting UNC for this fellowship, the Department of War has shown a reprioritization of robust civic education in the formation of America’s military personnel, which seems to nonetheless be causing confusion among former host universities.

A Yale University spokesperson said that the university is “working to understand the changes in the department’s policy”—as if it’s some kind of great mystery requiring great “work” to “understand.” Or take William and Mary, whose spokesperson expressed that the school was “puzzled and saddened,” and pointed out in their response that their school educated President George Washington. Yes, what a puzzle. 

If William and Mary wants to invoke George Washington, though, one has to wonder how at home he would actually feel in his alma mater. Perhaps in their Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Department, which was founded in 1991. Yes, I’m sure his views on gender and sexuality would be quite the smash hit in their faculty lounge. 

Then again, he might not even get into the university at all, given that William and Mary is under federal investigation for using race-based criteria to distribute student benefits. Yes, yes, this is quite the “puzzle.” 

Yale, William & Mary, and the rest of the schools axed by the Department have been wearing the skin-suits of the reputable places they used to be. In their performed confusion, they are trying to pass off the administration’s actions as baseless, when they are, in fact, based on much. 

If these universities were truly serious about changing their academic environments for the better—as many have done during the second Trump administration—their communications on this matter would be more understanding and conciliatory. In spite of their various commitments to increasing academic freedom, no true, internal reckoning seems to have occurred on their part. That is not good.

The preferred narrative of the targeted universities and their sympathizers in the media, who would love more than anything else to discuss this story as a war between the administration versus themselves, is that they are being unfairly attacked. But pretending that this policy represents an assault on schools in general allows them to avoid the truth—the truth being all that they, in particular, stink, and that UNC, in particular, is more deserving than they are of this fellowship, and of federal resources in general.

Luca Adamo graduated from Duke University in 2026, studying political science and philosophy. After graduation, he interned for the Martin Center.