Ivy League Institutions Remain Quiet as Trump Fills Cabinet with Alumni

The incoming Trump Cabinet showcases a notable Ivy League presence, much to the surprise of elite circles.

Donald Trump is himself an Ivy graduate, holding an economics degree from the esteemed Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, despite the institution never extending its congratulations.

Additionally, four other Cabinet nominees also hail from Ivy League schools, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a Yale grad (1984); Vice President J.D. Vance, a Yale Law alum (2013); and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency, who also attended Yale Law (2013). Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary nominee, boasts dual Ivy credentials from Princeton and Harvard, yet neither university has acknowledged his rise in the political realm.

Yale can take extra pride, as three of its alumni will be part of the future Trump Cabinet.

However, Yale has notably remained silent regarding its accomplished graduates.

This silence sharply contrasts with its previous enthusiastic displays of pride in political successes of Democrat alumni, such as the unsuccessful presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Jake Sullivan, who serves as Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor.

Hillary has frequently been welcomed to share her insights at Yale, receiving accolades and being hailed as a model of “transformational leadership.”

In 2016, Yale Law School publicly congratulated Hillary on her historic presidential nomination.

In contrast, there was no similar acknowledgment when Yale graduate Vance was elected as vice president this year. The closest recognition was a link in the newsletter Yale Today to a USA Today article noting that Vance was “one of the youngest vice presidents in US history.”

This muted reaction stood in stark contrast to the enthusiastic response from Vance’s other alma mater, Ohio State, which celebrated him in an X post: “Congratulations to Vice President-elect JD Vance, an alumnus of The Ohio State University and native Ohioan.”

The Yale Daily News did mention, albeit in the eighth paragraph of a less-than-enthusiastic article regarding Trump’s victory, that Vance “will become the fourth Yale graduate to hold the vice presidential seat.”

Yet, it dampened the achievement by adding: “Despite Vance’s ties to Yale, however, few in the community… are likely to celebrate his political ascent.”

One might expect Bessent’s nomination for a high-profile Cabinet role to elicit some pride.

After all, when fellow Yale alum Jake Sullivan was appointed to the subordinate position of Biden’s national security adviser in 2013, the Yale Daily News published a commendatory article celebrating the milestone with a thorough overview of his career achievements. In 2020, when both Sullivan and John Kerry were named to Biden’s national security team, Yale Alumni Association’s executive director Weili Cheng proudly referred to the “long and proud history of service among Yale alumni — for country, community, and fellow Yalies. We’re delighted to see that continue with the incoming administration, and we wish them, and everyone who will serve and continues to serve, all the very best in months and years to come.”

However, the Yale Alumni Association has notably refrained from issuing any similar applauding statements for Bessent, Vance, or Ramaswamy.

Despite this, Bessent has been a significant contributor to Yale and acted as an adjunct professor for five years. He and his sister have donated the Bessent Library to Yale and established three scholarships.

Yale eagerly accepted his financial contributions and reveled in the prestige of his accomplishments as a billionaire hedge fund manager. Yet once Bessent, Vance, and Ramaswamy aligned themselves with Trump, the Ivy League elite chose to overlook them.