From the Oval Office to courtrooms, several Penn alumni made national headlines this year — repeatedly tying the University to high-profile controversies.
Donald Trump
1968 Wharton graduate and President Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January marked the beginning of a tumultuous year that continually brought federal politics to Penn’s campus. The administration’s executive actions and policy changes — particularly those addressing international student visas and diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts — directly impacted the Penn community.
In October, Penn rejected the White House’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, becoming the third university to decline the proposal after it received swift condemnation from across the Penn community.
The White House’s higher education compact — initially offered to Penn and eight other universities on Oct. 1 — would have provided preferential federal funding in exchange for the institutions’ commitments to significant governance and policy reforms. Provisions included a five-year tuition freeze, a cap on international student enrollment at 15%, and requirements to protect conservative viewpoints — changes that legal experts and civil rights groups characterized as “blatantly unconstitutional.”
Penn President Larry Jameson informed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that the University was going to decline the offer on Oct. 16, writing that the University provided “focused feedback highlighting areas of existing alignment as well as substantive concerns.” The decision came after nearly 2,000 members of the Penn community signed a petition urging University leaders to reject the compact, as well as the Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passing a resolution opposing the agreement.
The Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School was a prominent critic of Trump’s use of executive power, filing amicus briefs challenging his attempts to federalize state National Guards. In August, CERL filed a brief in Newsom v. Trump, arguing that Trump’s order to place the California National Guard under federal control undermined federalism and violated the Posse Comitatus Act.
In November, CERL filed a second brief opposing Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago. The brief argued that Trump exceeded his statutory authority and threatened core constitutional principles.
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Elon Musk
Trump appointed 1997 College and Wharton graduate Elon Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, thrusting the tech billionaire into the national spotlight. Musk’s role overseeing proposed federal budget cuts raised concerns about potential impacts on research funding and government programs that support higher education institutions.
Musk’s simultaneous roles as a government official and CEO of multiple companies — including Tesla and SpaceX — also sparked debates about conflicts of interest and the concentration of power among tech billionaires in the Trump administration.
Luigi Mangione
2020 Engineering graduate Luigi Mangione was charged with murder as an act of terrorism in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione was initially indicted in the New York State Supreme Court on one count of first-degree murder “in furtherance of terrorism” and two counts of second-degree murder, as well as eight additional charges related to criminal possession of a weapon and forgery. He pleaded not guilty to all 11 state charges, along with separate charges in the Southern District of New York for murder through the use of a firearm, two stalking counts, and a firearm offense.
In September, Mangione was cleared of two New York State terrorism charges. Gregory Carro, the New York State Supreme Court justice overseeing the case, ruled that the charges were “legally insufficient.”
The dismissed charges were among the most serious counts Mangione faced and carried a sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
Mangione still faces a count of second-degree murder in New York, which carries a 25-year sentence if convicted.
While a student at Penn, Mangione studied at the School of Engineering and Applied Science and founded UPGRADE — the University’s first game development club. He graduated from Penn in 2020 with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in computer and information science and was inducted into Penn’s Eta Kappa Nu honor society for excellence in electrical and computer engineering.
Mangione suffered from back issues and “brain fog” — which he posted about frequently on Reddit. His posts also attributed his decline in academic success to these issues, detailing their negative impact on his overall well being.
“It’s absolutely brutal to have such a life-halting issue,” Mangione wrote of his brain fog in a Reddit post. “The people around you probably won’t understand your symptoms — they certainly don’t for me.”
At Penn, Mangione was also a member of Phi Kappa Psi — a University-affiliated fraternity. In a social media post, he claimed that his mental and physical issues were exacerbated by his fraternity’s “hell week.”
Charlie Javice
In September, 2013 Wharton graduate Charlie Javice was sentenced to just over seven years in federal prison after being found guilty on all charges of fraud and conspiracy in JP Morgan Chase’s $175 million acquisition of her startup, Frank.
Frank — a for-profit financial aid assistance program — was founded by Javice in 2016 to help students navigate the federal financial aid application program and negotiate with colleges to receive more financial aid.
JP Morgan initially filed the lawsuit against Javice in December 2022, alleging that Javice had lied about the number of her startup’s customers and created over 4 million fake user accounts. According to the lawsuit, Frank had fewer than 300,000 actual users.
“I am deeply sorry, and I am asking with all my heart for forgiveness,” Javice told Senior United States District Court judge Alvin Hellerstein during the trial, according to Bloomberg. “If it were within my power, I would never make the same mistake.”
As a part of the trial, 1984 Wharton graduate and Wharton Board of Advisors Chair Marc Rowan sent a letter of support to Hellerstein urging the court to “impose a lenient sentence” on Javice. In the letter, Rowan wrote that he hoped to “offer a more complete picture of who Charlie is as a person,” emphasizing that Javice “loved to help people who needed help.”
