Professor of Trump said he was dumbest student
Executive summary
Multiple outlets and archival profiles report that William Kelley, a late Wharton marketing professor, allegedly told friends that “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had,” a line repeated in Poets&Quants reporting and related pieces [1] [2]. Other reporting and snippets in the search set note that Trump has repeatedly made claims about his Wharton education, while some outlets say he has circulated dubious or fake quotes attributed to professors [1] [3].
1. Who said it and where the claim appears
The strongest trace in the available reporting links the line to William Kelley, a former Wharton marketing professor; a close friend, Frank DiPrima, is quoted saying Kelley repeated the phrase about Trump many times, and that anecdote appears in Poets&Quants’ coverage of Trump’s Wharton years [1] [2]. StudyInternational’s roundup of Trump’s education also references professors’ low opinions of his performance and repeats some of the same material about Wharton [4].
2. How reliable is the sourcing behind the quote
The version in Poets&Quants is secondhand: it rests on a friend’s recollection of Kelley’s repeated comment rather than a contemporaneous note, interview with Kelley (who is deceased), or primary classroom records [1]. That makes the claim credible as an anecdote about Kelley’s private views but limited as definitive proof about Trump’s academic standing; Poets&Quants frames it as a recollection from an associate [1].
3. Context about Trump’s Wharton record and related controversies
Reporting in these sources places the Kelley anecdote alongside a broader debate over Trump’s claims about his college record — including his boasting that he was “top of his class” and other public claims about what he learned at Wharton — and disputes over whether Wharton “failed” him on substantive topics [1]. Poets&Quants also notes contemporaneous ethical uproar and later calls by some Wharton faculty to reconsider his degree amid other allegations about his admissions and testing [1] [2].
4. Conflicting claims and the “fake quote” angle
One of the search snippets warns that Trump has at times shared fake or misattributed quotes from professors; an MSN item in the results references Trump sharing a fabricated quote from a professor who, in reality, allegedly thought Trump was “the dumbest” — suggesting confusion or misattribution circulates around these anecdotes [3]. Available sources do not provide a full fact‑check of every circulated quote; they show that both real recollections and mistaken attributions coexist in coverage [3] [1].
5. What this says about media narratives and agendas
Journalistic and alumni outlets that repeat Kelley’s alleged line are interested in character studies of Trump and in critiquing his self-presentation as a top student; that frames the anecdote as emblematic rather than forensic evidence [1]. Conversely, pieces noting “fake” shared quotes point to an agenda among some actors to discredit or defend Trump by amplifying sharp personal judgments; readers should note both inclinations in the coverage [3] [1].
6. Limitations of the public record in these sources
The reporting in the provided set leans on personal recollections and secondary reporting rather than primary academic records or on-the-record statements from Kelley [1] [2]. Available sources do not cite Wharton grade transcripts, classroom evaluations, or contemporaneous documents proving the professor’s remark; they rely on colleagues’ memories and later reporting [1].
7. Bottom line for readers assessing the claim
A repeated anecdote — that Wharton professor William Kelley called Trump “the dumbest goddamn student” — is present in multiple profiles and alumni pieces via Frank DiPrima’s recollection and has entered popular reporting about Trump’s education [1] [2]. The claim is plausible as an expressed personal opinion by Kelley but lacks direct primary documentation in the sources provided; readers should treat it as a widely reported anecdote rather than incontrovertible fact [1] [2].
If you want, I can compile the exact passages from Poets&Quants and StudyInternational that quote DiPrima and reprint them here for closer comparison [1] [4].