Dear Dean Geoffrey Garrett and Vice Dean Howard Kaufold,
In 2010-11, I had the honor of serving as a Co-Chair of the Wharton MBA Ethics Committee. I still remember vividly the standards to which we hold our students and community. To quote from the 2017 MBA Resource Guide, section 1D: “The Wharton community is committed to an environment free from discrimination and harassment of any kind.” Our Ethics Code was created “to develop a sense of individual responsibility on the part of each member of the Wharton community to participate actively in maintaining such standards, to foster an environment of honor and trust within the Wharton community, and to engender respect for the ethical standards of the Wharton graduate. Fulfilling this mission is a collective responsibility of the members of the Wharton community.”
As an alumnus, I consider myself very much still part of the Wharton community and am proud to have had the opportunity to study at our elite school. There is another alumnus who has proudly – and loudly – proclaimed his affiliation with Wharton time and time again: Donald Trump. In efforts to suggest his intellectual prowess, Mr. Trump has repeatedly seized upon the prestige of the Wharton brand. In doing so, however, he only reaffirms his obligation to uphold the ethical standards we expect from all members of the Wharton community.
Mr. Trump has prominently, and quite publicly, failed our community.
He has repeatedly made a mockery of our ethics code and the values Wharton holds dear. Most recently and arguably most disturbingly, on Dec. 7, Mr. Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” – presumptively as a measure to inhibit terrorists from entering the United States. In this statement and others, Mr. Trump assigned malicious intent to a whole class of people. This is the very essence of discrimination. It is a violation of the Wharton principle to “respect the individual rights of others.”
Mr. Trump has forfeited his right to be a member of our Wharton community.
It is not enough for Wharton to stand silent in the face of such remarks by a former son of the school. How can we set an example for our current, future (and even former) students if we allow such statements to go unanswered with the requisite opprobrium?
I respectfully call upon both of you fine gentlemen, as leaders of our august school and protectors of the Wharton brand, to lead the public disownment of Donald Trump as a member of the Wharton family. We at Wharton seek to raise ethical leaders; we cannot sit idly by but must proactively and publicly denounce Mr. Trump’s statement and the philosophy that engenders his invective. It is our moral obligation.
If we are to be a global leader, it is time for us – for Wharton – to send a clear message to the world. Enough is enough.
With respect and concern,
Victor M. Lee, WG ‘11
VICTOR LEE is a Wharton MBA graduate. His email is victor.lee.wg11@wharton.upenn.edu.
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