The Wharton School’s Huntsman Hall at the University of Pennsylvania. Courtesy photo
Both Columbia and USC have found themselves in the limelight this year over the Israel-Hamas conflict, but now it’s Wharton’s turn.
This week, The Daily Pennsylvanian announced a controversial prank at our top-ranked business undergraduate school has sparked outrage and led to the suspension of the business school’s Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity.
The offense? The fraternity was said to have been involved in hanging not just a few, but hundreds, of “Missing Cow” posters, which were said to be designed to mock kidnapped Israelis who are being held hostage by Hamas. The posters were supposedly part of an initiation-week prank by new members of the fraternity.
Earlier this year Penn State took a hit when former donor Jon Huntsman Jr. stopped sending funds due to the university’s perceived silence and lack of strong condemnation of Hamas’s actions in the Israel-Hamas conflict. Now, the topic has re-surfaced for the school.
“After a review of information by University and Wharton School of Business officials,” says DSP Executive Director Jeremy Levine, tThe decision was reached to suspend chapter operations until at least the Fall of 2025.”
Despite DSP’s claim that the posters were a joke meant to promote veganism, the resemblance to posters of kidnapped Israelis led to their suspension. The fraternity expressed remorse and is working with the university to reorganize and demonstrate cultural change.
A spokesperson from the university said the posters were “crude” and “deplorable,” adding that the university was working hard to identify exactly who was responsible for creating them.
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