University of Pennsylvania probes fake, offensive email sent under its name
The University of Pennsylvania is investigating a deeply offensive email that appeared to originate from its Graduate School of Education as reported by Fox News. Sent on Friday morning, the message used official university letterhead and bore the subject line “We got hacked,” alarming faculty, alumni, and students alike. Laden with racial slurs and vulgarities, the email attacked the university’s reputation, calling it “a dogs— elitist institution full of woke r——,” and urged recipients to “stop giving” money to Penn.The tone and language of the email were described by recipients as “deeply disturbing.” The message also mocked the institution’s admissions and hiring practices, claiming, “We have terrible security practices and are completely unmeritocratic. We hire and admit morons because we love legacies, donors, and unqualified affirmative action admits.”
University responds, denounces the email as a “fake”
In an official statement to Fox News Digital, a Penn spokesperson confirmed that the email was “obviously fake and highly offensive.” The spokesperson emphasised that the message did not reflect the university’s ethos or any of its official communications.“A fraudulent email has been circulated that appears to come from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education,” the spokesperson said. “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 University’s Office of Information Security is aware of the situation, and our Incident Response team is actively addressing it.”The university further clarified that while the email purported to announce a hack, there was no breach of its systems. Officials told KYW-TV that the institution “had not been hacked” but was investigating the source of the malicious correspondence.
Cybersecurity concerns surface as investigation deepens
As outrage spread, the university took to Facebook to alert students and alumni about the phishing campaign. All of the emails are incredibly offensive and in no way reflective of Penn or Penn GSE’s mission or values. We sincerely apologize for the harm this has caused and is causing. Over and above the inconvenience of getting your inboxes spammed, these emails are hurtful and upsetting, the university wrote on a Facebook post.According to Elizabeth Cooper, the school’s IT help desk manager quoted by The Daily Pennsylvanian, the fake messages also reached individuals outside Penn’s internal network. “It appears that some email list, which is beyond our control, was accessed by malicious individuals who then sent out these messages,” Cooper explained.Penn Medicine Academic Computing Services and the School of Nursing’s IT division reportedly sent out advisories acknowledging the incident, warning recipients not to click on any links contained in the fraudulent messages.
A larger reckoning over security and reputation
The incident has once again highlighted the vulnerability of major academic institutions to cyber threats and misinformation campaigns. With universities increasingly reliant on digital communication and data-sharing networks, such impersonation attempts can cause significant reputational harm even without a system breach.Experts say that spoofed emails of this nature exploit public trust in official communication channels. For a university like Penn, already under scrutiny for debates over free speech and diversity, the episode highlights the importance of proactive cybersecurity measures and rapid response mechanisms.As Penn’s Office of Information Security continues to trace the origin of the email, the broader academic community watches closely. In an era where digital trust is fragile, even one falsified message can tarnish institutional credibility and ignite waves of misinformation far beyond campus boundaries.
