Art by Rebecca Horowitz
Transparency Item: The Perspectives section of the Graphic is comprised of articles based on opinion. This is the opinion and perspective of the writers.
Katie Zacharia (’07, JD’11) was ousted from her position as White House Press Secretary on Friday, Oct. 16, according to previous Graphic reporting. Having held the position for only five days, Zacharia’s stint is the shortest in Press Secretary history, according to MSN.
Zacharia was unfit for White House Press Secretary because of her general incompetence. Her credentials and debut performance paint the picture of someone ill-suited for the position.
Zacharia’s law credentials are dubious, to say the least. Though she received her Juris Doctor (JD) from Pepperdine School of Law in 2011, now called Caruso School of Law, she sat and failed the bar exam the same year. She is not licensed to practice law in any state, according to HuffPost.
Eligibility to practice law is not a prerequisite for a White House Press Secretary, yet Zacharia’s dishonest presentation of her professional career speaks to her inadequacy.
A watchdog group filed a complaint with the California State Bar Association on Wednesday, Oct. 14, calling for an investigation into whether Zacharia maintained a public image as someone entitled to practice law, according to The New York Times.
Falsely presenting as being eligible to practice law is a misdemeanor.
Zacharia worked at Zhong Lun Law Firm in China from 2011 to 2013; however, her role did not involve legal counsel or practice, according to HuffPost.
“They [foreign lawyers] are not practicing Chinese law at any time,” Gary Gao, a partner of Zhong Lun, told the New York Times
Instead, the firm often hired foreigners for language assistance and to help Chinese staff better understand foreign business culture, according to The New York Times.
Despite failing the bar, Zacharia shared at least 15 social media posts in the past two years that have identified herself as an “attorney,” according to CNN.
A White House Press Secretary should demonstrate a level of transparency Zacharia clearly falls short of. The ambiguity around her qualifications begs the question of how she was even initially hired.
Zacharia’s appointment was not just questionable in background. Her appointment and Pepperdine’s celebration of it reflect poorly on the University as a whole.
Pepperdine announced and celebrated Zacharia’s appointment on its website, quoting President Jim Gash as saying, “Pepperdine is proud to count Katie among our alumni, former colleagues, and friends,” according to their announcement.
While alumni of any university inevitably end up in a variety of positions, political or otherwise, Zacharia is not a typical or random alumna. Her involvement with Pepperdine extends beyond her degrees from the University.
She served as the director of development for special projects from 2023 to 2025, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also currently serves on the Dean’s Council at the Caruso School of Law, according to its website.
Being given the opportunity to work in the White House is not something many have experienced, especially not in such a public-facing role as Press Secretary. However, being a part of the current White House administration, led by President Donald Trump, is not something to be proud of.
Trump has enacted mass deportations and accelerated the power of institutions like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has resulted in the deaths of at least 28 people, according to National Immigration Project. He appears in over 5,300 of the released Epstein files and was found liable for sexual misconduct against E. Jean Carroll, the writer who was successful in a $5 million lawsuit against Trump for battery and defamation, according to NBC News.
He has demonized immigrants and transgender people and has also further enabled Israel in its genocidal war on Palestinians, according to Al Jazeera.
Working directly for Trump in his administration is nothing to be proud of. By celebrating Zacharia’s appointment, Pepperdine is choosing to associate itself positively with the political vision of the current administration.
Zacharia actively chose to professionally associate with Trump prior to her appointment as Press Secretary when she started working at Trump Media & Technology Group as senior communications advisor in June 2026, according to her LinkedIn.
She is known to have previously promoted conspiracy theories, having shared and posted the likes of Pizzagate and QAnon conspiracies that put forward the false idea Trump maintained control of the military under the Biden administration, according to reporting by Popular Information. She has appeared on Fox News and Newsmax repeatedly, which are both well-known right-wing biased media outlets, according to AllSides Media Bias Chart.
By celebrating Zacharia, Pepperdine is not just associating itself with the Trump administration, but could also be seen as associating itself with and endorsing these kinds of political views — a right-wing association Gash has also been fostering through his appearance on Fox News and an op-ed in The Hill in which he claims universities have a responsibility to “nurture patriotism in their students,” according to the op-ed.
Adding to this is Zacharia’s apparent unsuitability for the role of Press Secretary in the first place, appearing on television where she stumbled over words, accidentally referred to her husband as “her president” and deferred answering questions from the press, according to The New York Times.
In the 2024-2025 academic year, Gash chose the theme of “Freedom,” and in a Feb. 27 email in response to the 2025 “Dear Colleague Letter,” he also claimed Pepperdine welcomed diverse perspectives.
If Pepperdine wants to truly support freedom and welcome a diverse array of people and perspectives, it would not support the Trump administration’s politics that actively oppress millions of people every day.
Pepperdine should not only take down its glowing announcement about Zacharia’s appointment across various platforms, but the University should take a stance in explicit opposition to association with her. Otherwise, it appears Pepperdine is making an active choice to endorse the current administration and its politics.
This story was copy edited by Caitlin Murray.
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Contact Ashley Burton via email: ashley.burton@pepperdine.edu
Contact Riley McGeehon via email: riley.mcgeehon@pepperdine.edu