Penn Student Newspaper Endorses Clinton, Disses Alum Trump

“Despite having graduated from our university, he displays none of the characteristics that we expect from a potential president.”

Daily Pennsylvanian - Hillary Clinton endorsement

An excerpt from the Daily Pennsylvanian’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton

The Daily Pennsylvanian, the independent student newspaper of Penn, endorsed Hillary Clinton today in a joint editorial with the Wellesley News, the college paper of Hillary Clinton’s alma mater. Trump, as he mentions on the campaign trail, graduated from Wharton with a bachelor’s in economics in 1968.

“We at The Daily Pennsylvanian are concerned about the precedent that Donald Trump sets for our fellow peers and how he chooses to leverage his affiliation to Penn to the rest of the world,” the editorial reads. “His divisive policies are not only orthogonal to those of Penn, but to democracy. … While the Wellesley News has endorsed its alumna, Hillary Clinton, The Daily Pennsylvanian Opinion Board cannot stand behind Donald Trump as a candidate.”

While Trump references his Penn degree, Penn generally no-comments any requests for information about the university’s take on Trump, and many connected to the university have signed a petition calling on Penn to denounce its alumnus before the election.

“We now endorse Hillary Clinton for president not only based on the many reasons that we believe make Donald Trump unfit for the presidency, but also because we respect Clinton as a strong, effective and extremely qualified candidate,” a separate editorial by The DP praising Clinton read. “We do not need to attack Trump to explain why he would be a less effective president than Clinton; his track record shows his uninformed approach to tackling both domestic and foreign policy, along with his inability to actually articulate a coherent policy agenda beyond generalized, sometimes implausible or illegal, suggestions.

“His knowledge of the actual political process and his hypothetical duties and responsibilities as president appear to be completely lacking. We do not want to support Clinton only by attacking her opponent, but we must acknowledge the many missteps in Trump’s campaign. For instance, he continually disrespects minority groups and makes blatantly racist and sexist comments without apology. If he does admit fault, he excuses or dismisses his mistakes without genuine understanding of the gravity of his rhetoric. Despite having graduated from our university, he displays none of the characteristics that we expect from a potential president.”