❓WHAT HAPPENED: The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education e-mail system was reportedly hacked, with offensive messages sent to alumni.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Alleged hackers targeting the University of Pennsylvania, its alumni, and the institution’s Office of Information Security.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The hack occurred recently, with e-mails sent from Penn’s Graduate School of Education addresses.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The University of Pennsylvania is a dogs**t elitist institution full of woke retards.” – Hackers.
🎯IMPACT: The breach raises concerns over data security and politically motivated cyberattacks targeting academic institutions.
The University of Pennsylvania has confirmed that members of its community were targeted in a fraudulent e-mail campaign that appeared to come from addresses linked to its Graduate School of Education. The messages, apparently sent by hackers, used inflammatory language and harsh criticisms of the university, including the claim that “The University of Pennsylvania is a dogs**t elitist institution full of woke retards.” The e-mail, in character as UPenn, goes on to say, “We have terrible security practices and are completely unmeritocratic. We hire and admit morons because we love legacies, donors, and unqualified affirmative action admits. We love breaking federal laws like FERPA (all your data will be leaked) and Supreme Court rulings like SFFA. Please stop giving us money.”
“FERPA” is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the remarks on the SFFA refer to the Supreme Court’s Students for Fair Admissions decision, which struck down race-based affirmative action admissions policies that disadvantage white and Asian students.
In a statement, Penn said that “a fraudulent e-mail is currently being circulated” and that its Office of Information Security’s Incident Response team is investigating the breach. The messages were reportedly sent to several alumni.
The incident mirrors other politically charged cyberattacks targeting major universities. Earlier this year, Columbia University faced a similar breach, during which a hacker claimed to have accessed decades of admissions data. The same individual later took credit for intrusions at New York University and the University of Minnesota.
Columbia also recently agreed to pay more than $220 million to the Trump administration to regain access to federal research funding, following accusations that it mishandled anti-Semitism on campus and failed to comply with new education directives.
The Trump administration has made higher education reform a central part of its second-term agenda, emphasizing the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs across universities. Several Ivy League and public institutions have begun eliminating or rebranding DEI offices under pressure from federal agencies. Even some California campuses have reversed DEI hiring requirements, reflecting the administration’s warning that race-based initiatives could violate federal civil rights laws.
In recent months, Trump officials have launched investigations into universities accused of ignoring new federal orders on admissions and hiring practices. Johns Hopkins Medical School is reportedly under civil rights review for maintaining DEI policies that conflict with the administration’s anti-discrimination directives.
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