The University of Pennsylvania, where Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, received his undergraduate and graduate degrees, has declined to publicly comment on his arrest. Despite multiple inquiries, a UPenn representative only confirmed Mangione's graduation date of May 18, 2020, his degrees in engineering with a mathematics minor, and his membership in the Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society. 

Legal scholar William Jacobson, president of the Legal Insurrection Foundation and EqualProtect.org, suggested to Fox News Digital that the university's silence might stem from a fear of student reaction, given the campus's history of politically charged protests. He questioned the university's inability to offer even basic condolences to the victim's family. 

This reticence contrasts sharply with the Gilman School in Baltimore, Mangione's high school, where the headmaster issued a statement expressing distress and sympathy upon learning of the alumnus's arrest. 

Meanwhile, a UPenn assistant professor, Julia Alekseyeva, posted videos appearing to celebrate the event, though the university later stated she retracted her comments, deeming them insensitive. However, UPenn stopped short of condemning the murder or even mentioning Mangione by name. 

UPenn's silence also follows last year's controversy involving former President Liz Magill's refusal to explicitly categorize calls for Jewish genocide as harassment during a congressional hearing, an incident that preceded her resignation. Jacobson speculated on the possible motivations behind institutions' general reluctance to comment on such matters.