Donald Trump gets schooled by his Alma Mater – “You don’t represent us!”
Some members of Donald Trump’s alma mater, the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, are fed up with the presumptive Republican nominee using their school to “legitimize” his campaign and are speaking out in an open letter.
As NBC News reports, “Donald Trump loves to name-check his alma mater, the prestigious Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania. His two-year tenure at the school is an important pillar of his public persona that he’s used it not only to burnish his business credentials but to contrast his academic pedigree with his political rivals”
The open letter, posted hours ago, has already received the signature of over 600 students, faculty and alumni of Wharton.
“At the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, students are taught to represent the highest levels of respect and integrity. We are taught to embrace humility and diversity. We can understand why, in seeking America’s highest office, you have used your degree from Wharton to promote and lend legitimacy to your candidacy,” The letter begins.
The letter goes on to explain the authors’ disappointment with Trump and his campaign: “As a candidate for President, and now as the presumptive GOP nominee, you have been afforded a transformative opportunity to be a leader on national and international stages and to make the Wharton community even prouder of our school and values. However, we have been deeply disappointed in your candidacy.”
The letter goes on to blast the bigoted billionaire for using his affiliation with Wharton “to legitimize prejudice and intolerance.”
“We, proud students, alumni, and faculty of Wharton, are outraged that an affiliation with our school is being used to legitimize prejudice and intolerance. 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.”
Noting that “the Wharton community is a diverse community” made up of “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, ” the letter goes on to state that: “In other words, we represent the groups that you have repeatedly denigrated, as well as their steadfast friends, family, and allies.”
The open letter continues, with the co-authors writing that: “We are dedicated to promoting inclusion not only because diversity and tolerance have been repeatedly proven to be valuable assets to any organization’s performance, but also because we believe in mutual respect and human dignity as deeply held values. Your insistence on exclusion and scapegoating would be bad for business and bad for the American economy. 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. Your discriminatory statements are incompatible with the values that we are taught and we teach at Wharton, and we express our unwavering commitment to an open and inclusive American society,” the open letter concluded.
As NBC News notes in their report on the open letter: “Trump has been widely criticized for a plethora of inflammatory public statements that have been directed at the American Muslim community as well as undocumented immigrants, some of whom Trump has alleged are criminals and ‘rapists.’ Trump has also been accused of mocking a disabled reporter, trafficking in sexism and providing a forum for white supremacists to espouse their beliefs.”
The letters’ co-authors told NBC News in a statement that: “It was important for us to speak out against Trump because, as we have seen in many moments throughout history, silence is an act of complicity. This open letter speaks on behalf of Wharton students, alumni and faculty who wish to speak out against hate and stand in solidarity with all members of our diverse community — both at Wharton and across America.”
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