Overview
- In a 2013 Harvard Kennedy School capstone, Pete Hegseth proposed a selective STEM high school that emphasized equal opportunity for low-income, minority, and female students and sought a balance of race, class, gender, and geography.
- The paper urged bipartisan cooperation and highlighted Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman as a crucial partner; authorities later called her and her husband's killings politically motivated.
- As defense secretary, Hegseth has condemned DEI, directed service academies to admit solely on merit, removed DEI content from Pentagon materials, purged nearly 400 library books, and instituted a “highest male standard” fitness rule.
- Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the 2013 views align with Hegseth’s current meritocracy agenda and described the Harvard assignment as calling for a bipartisan perspective.
- Harvard adviser Phil Hanser said the capstone had no moderation requirement and voiced surprise at Hegseth’s later anti-DEI posture, and Hegseth secured Senate confirmation by a single vote with Vice President J.D. Vance breaking the tie.