March 26, 2016
Last year, long before Donald Trump became the frontrunner for the GOP nomination with several primary wins, the New York Daily News spoke to several classmates of his from his days at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
The comments about the 1968 Wharton graduate ranged from "no one remembered him" to "he's a racist blowhard."
This year, a freshman at the school who originally supported Trump disbanded his student group after the candidate suggested banning Muslims from entering the country.
On Wednesday, USA Today published another story about those at the Ivy League college in University City and how they're trying to distance themselves from the candidate. Here's a sampling of what they said:
• Freshman Stephanie Aliaga: “No one even talks about him — you could forget Trump is a Penn alumni. We’re not proud of it. … We don’t talk about it.”
• Junior Jennifer Knesbach, president of Penn’s College Republicans club: “Within our club there’s a bit of dread. Maybe not dread, but (Trump’s campaign is) definitely talked about not always in a good way. It’s definitely bad for the brand here.”
• Junior Shabnam Eghbali,, who supports John Kasich: “When I think of Wharton I think of making true leaders, and a leader that tries to abide by a set of values and ethics. I don’t think Trump represents that."
The story also quotes Patrick Lobo, the aforementioned freshman who ditched his support of Trump because of his comments about Muslims. He reiterated that he didn't want to align himself with a candidate whose rhetoric "bordered almost on hate speech."
You can give the full USA Today story a read here, but first, now might be a good time to register to vote in Pennsylvania if you haven't already.
