More Than 2,000 Wharton Affiliates Want Trump to Stop Name-Dropping Their School

Wharton’s Huntsman Hall By WestCoastivieS – via CC0. Donald Trump, Andrew Harnik, AP

More than 2,000 students and affiliates of Penn’s Wharton school have signed an open letter to Donald Trump.

Why? They want him to quit name-dropping their alma-mater.

“We, proud students, alumni, and faculty of Wharton, are outraged that an affiliation with our school is being used to legitimize prejudice and intolerance,” the letter reads. “Although we do not aim to make any political endorsements with this letter, we do express our unequivocal stance against the xenophobia, sexism, racism, and other forms of bigotry that you have actively and implicitly endorsed in your campaign.”

The letter, which was published on Friday, has quickly gained a following from Penn students, alumni, faculty, administrators and supporters who wish to denounce Trump’s candidacy and separate Wharton’s name from the presidential hopeful who often touts it. 

Trump received his bachelor’s degree from Wharton in 1968. He attended the school for just two years after transferring from Fordham.

In an NBC interview, Trump described the Wharton school as “probably the hardest there is to get into.” Two of his children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, also attended Wharton.

But many Wharton students don’t care. In fact, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, not a single person in the Penn system has donated to Trump, Dawn Fallik reported in Philadelphia magazine last month.

“The Wharton community is a diverse community,” the letter reads. “We are immigrants and children of immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Jews, women, people living with or caring for those with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ community. In other words, we represent the groups that you have repeatedly denigrated, as well as their steadfast friends, family, and allies.”

“Your insistence on exclusion and scapegoating would be bad for business and bad for the American economy,” the letter continues. “An intolerant America is a less productive, less innovative, and less competitive America. We, the undersigned Wharton students, alumni, and faculty, unequivocally reject the use of your education at Wharton as a platform for promoting prejudice and intolerance.”

Follow @ClaireSasko on Twitter.