Harvard has rescinded Kyle Kashuv’s acceptance after discovering racist remarks in his past.
The comments included a repetition of the N word, referring to African American athletes as “[N word] jocks,” and writing "im really good at typing n***** ok like practice uhhhhhh makes perfect.”
I accidentally posted without including further information. The remarks were made in December of 2017, when Kashuv was a 16-year-old sophomore. When they surfaced, Kashuv made a generic apology.
don’t forget his ranting “kill all the F’%$%# in Jews”… All of this shared in a class google doc, which proves Harvard isn’t looking for the best and brightest…
I mean really, most kids especially those applying to top schools would never do stuff that dumb in a shared google doc with classmates.
Good for Harvard.
I had read something about his remarks a few weeks ago and wondered why Harvard wasn’t doing something about his acceptance.
Cardinal, can you post a link to any statement by Harvard? How did you know he had been rescinded? (not doubting you, just wanting to read more).
ETA, I googled and found his tweets showing the letter from Harvard and trying to explain.
I’m sure no current Harvard students ever say or said such things ? and there is no place for forgiveness and recognition of growth and maturity. But Harvard is consistent if nothing else https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/6/5/2021-offers-rescinded-memes/
From his tweets -
“I was made aware of egregious and callous comments classmates and I made privately years ago - when I was 16 years old”
“After I issued this apology, speculative articles were written, my peers used the opportunity to attack me”
"After the story broke, former peers & political opponents began contacting Harvard urging them to rescind me. "
He certainly does try to play the victim here.
He obviously lacks the maturity to be at Harvard if what he said was only less than 2 years ago. Harvard has every right to rescind him, and it was the right thing to do. Reap what you sow.
Harvard admissions does not comment on specific students, so it’s no surprise that they have said nothing. However, Kyle posted the info himself on his Twitter account. Quite frankly, not that Harvard admissions needs the affirmations, but his ranting tweets indicate to me that they made the right decision. That said, I wish him well for the future.
It’s not like he said it once or twice while singing lyrics. Sounds like that was who he was. I hope he has grown since then, but colleges make decisions based on how someone acted and what they did throughout high school.
The “kill all Jews” comment is particularly concerning as well.
What’s remarkable is the number of conservative commentators (Kashuv was Turning Point USA’s former director of high school outreach and a gun rights activist) bemoaning this as another example of “cancel culture” and online mobbing of someone who’d admitted mistakes made at a younger age and wasn’t being given the chance to prove he learned from them. As if Harvard didn’t have the right to admit who it wants, for whatever institutional purposes it has, including preventing the campus from being turned into a circus.
Put yourself in Harvard’s place, having admitted him and now thinking about what might happen if they let him enroll with all this out there. Imagine students picketing his dorm, disrupting classes he was attending, etc., and alumni and others expressing incredulity that Harvard knew all the things he’d written and still let him come. If you’re Harvard, no matter how much you think this kid has grown, are you signing up for that?
I don’t think so. Better by far to rescind his acceptance (which he would never have received if this had been known to the admissions office last fall, for the same reasons) and give it to one of possibly thousands of kids on the waitlist who managed to get through their teen years without repeatedly tweeting the n-word. Maybe a perfect-stats Asian, as a gesture toward dealing with another Harvard race-based public relations problem.
“Too late” said Ronald Sullivan. Although he likely would have welcomed the spotlight shifting off of him.
I hope it is not too late for him to find a school now.
I didn’t follow his path, did he get into Harvard in the first place because of parkland activism or “normal” application process?
Articles say he turned down large scholarship offers to attend Harvard and that he is academically qualified 1550 SAT and 3.9+ gpa… probably a combo of both. My guess is he’ll take a gap year unless he’s extended an olive branch from a comparable institution.
He already had planned to take a gap year.
I find his tweets reflect a tone that show he is not contrite or too mature just wishes he wasn’t rescinded.
Many people who know him have stated that his comments on the chat group weren’t isolated and that he talked like this frequently.
When this came to light, I think there was no other course of action for Harvard other than doing what they did. They have a duty to all the other students, students who reflect the diversity he so grossly disparaged.
I love Harvard Diversity’s response - “I encourage you to search online”. In other words, don’t expect us to do your work for you and buh-bye!
I don’t have much sympathy for racists, even teenaged ones. I hope he figures it out and looks inward.
What does he mean he was “made aware” of saying these deeply offensive and racist things? How was he already not aware of something he said? A just-graduated senior was “made aware” of something that he said when he was a sophomore? He wasn’t made aware; he was caught, and the rest of us were made aware.
He also whines about how Harvard should believe that “growth is possible.” They should, but I see no evidence of growth, other than his self-serving apology that doesn’t actually apologize. After he was outed as a racist, he tried to scramble to save his reputation; that’s covering his butt, not growth.
Kid should have tried to go to. Stanford. California state law prohibits this sort of punishment of speech even by private colleges.
Growth is possible. That obviously doesn’t mean it’s a given.
Well, stating that comments were made “years ago” when you’re a 17-year-old applying for colleges and you were 16 when you made the comments, doesn’t really feel like a strong defense.
According to Wikipedia his parents immigrated from Israel, so those anti-Semitic comments are self-loathing?