By Christina Schuler | Florida Today

Will Thibeau, director at the Claremont Institute’s Center for the American Way of Life, argued on Florida’s Voice Radio with Drew Steele that the military’s adoption of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies has undermined its core mission — particularly within elite institutions like West Point and other service academies.

“These are not universities that form future consultants or tax professionals,” Thibeau said. “These are institutions of warfighting that forge leaders in suffering and trial to lead America’s sons and daughters in wartime.”

Thibeau warned that the military’s alignment with the culture and ideologies of modern American universities — which he characterized as politically biased — represents a dangerous shift away from the armed forces’ foundational purpose.

“What I think has happened is this collusion with the project of the American universities,” he said. “We know the problems in the American university system — critical race theory, historical perversions, anti-American professors. That model does not belong in the military.”

He called for a serious reevaluation of how military institutions — including West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy, and ROTC programs — are run, emphasizing that these schools should not be held to the same cultural or academic standards as traditional civilian universities.

“If we are going to those places to expect the standard fare academic discourse and formation that you would expect at the Ivy League, then we have something wrong,” Thibeau said.

“Let’s keep the mission clear — these institutions forge leaders of warriors. And as such, we should expect those institutions to behave a different way.”

Watch:

WATCH: @ClaremontInst‘s Will Thibeau explains why DEI policies are especially corrosive to the country’s function when applied to the military

“These are not universities that form future consultants or tax professionals, […] these are institutions of war-fighting.” pic.twitter.com/aCiyCSRoei

— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) May 23, 2025

First published on Florida Today