Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Raleigh, North Carolina. Joshua Roberts | Getty Images

The letter, which has already garnered more than 500 signatures from students, alumni and faculty in the week since it was made public, goes on to criticize the GOP contender for using his affiliation with the school to "legitimize prejudice and intolerance." "The Wharton community is a diverse community. We are immigrants and children of immigrants, people of color, Muslims, Jews, women, people living with or caring for those with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community. In other words, we represent the groups that you have repeatedly denigrated, as well as their steadfast friends, family and allies," the letter reads. Trump has been widely criticized for a plethora of inflammatory public statements that have been directed at the American Muslim community as well as undocumented immigrants, some of whom Trump has alleged are criminals and "rapists." Trump has also been accused of mocking a disabled reporter, trafficking in sexism and providing a forum for white supremacists to espouse their beliefs. "It was important for us to speak out against Trump because, as we have seen in many moments throughout history, silence is an act of complicity," the letter's co-authors told NBC News in a statement Friday. "This open letter speaks on behalf of Wharton students, alumni and faculty who wish to speak out against hate and stand in solidarity with all members of our diverse community -- both at Wharton and across America."

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump John Sommers II | Getty Images

This is also not the first time Trump has been rebuked by the Wharton community. In February, at a mock caucus held by the Government and Politics Association at Penn, where more than 120 of the school's students were polled for the presidential preferences, only one identified themselves as Trump supporter. While in the past it's been reported that Trump graduated at the top of his classwith honors, that notion has since been repeatedly debunked, with at least one 2001 book suggesting that he gained entry to the school in the first place due to family connections with a member of the admissions office. And while Trump has recently boasted about his "super genius" time at Wharton, he doesn't have a widely publicized history of donating significant amounts of money to the school (despite his purported billionaire status) and in his own best-selling 1987 book "The Art of the Deal" he wrote: "Perhaps the most important thing I learned at Wharton was not to be overly impressed by academic credentials ... That degree doesn't prove very much." Still, when the school commemorated its 125th anniversary nearly a decade ago, Trump was listed as one of the institution's most "influential" former students. And three of his children, Ivanka Trump, Tiffany Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., have all followed in his footsteps, earning degrees at Wharton.

An informal survey of the faculty conducted by CNBC last summer determined that there was a "fairly even split" between those who believe Trump's image was hurting the school versus those who felt it had no effect at all.

Meanwhile, a nascent "Penn for Trump" group on campus was disbanded shortly after the candidate rolled out his Muslim ban idea. "At the beginning of the campaign, Donald was speaking his mind, saying what he meant," freshman Patrick Lobo, who organized the group, told the Financial Times last month. "I was attracted to his lack of Washington connection. But [after his divisive comments] I just felt that as a student on this campus, as an individual that comes in contact with diversity, as derogatory as they were, he just wasn't acting and speaking presidential."

Jason Toff, a product manager at Google who graduated from Wharton in 2008, shared the open letter on his Facebook page two days ago and he says that the response has been overwhelming.

"I've never had a post re-shared so many times. It seems like there are many, many people who feel the same way," he told NBC News on Friday. "My hope would be two things for Wharton's sake ... that they are not tarnished by this madman and that Trump throwing around that he went to Wharton doesn't mean he's right about the things he's saying."