Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
The University of Pennsylvania is investigating after a crude email, falsely claiming to be from the school, was sent out to alumni and students. “We have terrible security practices and are completely unmeritocratic,” the email read, after describing the university using an offensive phrase. It went on to criticize the school’s hiring practices and policies, and closed with, “Please stop giving us money.” A University of Pennsylvania spokesperson confirmed Friday that “a fraudulent email has been circulated that appears to come from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.” It was not immediately clear how many people received the message, or who was behind it. “This is obviously a fake, and nothing in the highly offensive, hurtful message reflects the mission or actions of Penn or of Penn GSE,” the school said. “The University’s Office of Information Security is aware of the situation, and our Incident Response team is actively addressing it.” Screenshots of emails from the Graduate School of Education with a subject line of “We got hacked (Action Required)” were shared widely online. On Reddit, some Penn alumni said they received the message multiple times. So did graduate students and at least one person who had once applied for a job at Penn. The Ivy League university has dealt with its share of controversies in recent years. In December 2023, President Liz Magill resigned after receiving criticism for her response to a question from U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) about whether calling for the genocide of Jewish people would violate Penn’s code of conduct. “It is a context-dependent decision,” Magill had answered. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump‘s administration asked Penn and other elite universities to sign a compact, which would have given the school a better shot at getting federal funding, but which would have given the federal government sway over things like hiring, admissions, and curriculum. Penn rejected the government’s request in mid-October.
