Harvard rescinds acceptance of conservative Kyle Kashuv over comments when he was 16-years-old
Private texts were circulated and intentionally leveraged by opponents to encourage rescinding his acceptance
Kyle Kashuv survived the Parkland school shooting massacre. He was later admitted to Harvard.
Monday morning, Kashuv tweeted that his acceptance had been rescinded over text messages he made when he was 16-years-old. Kashuv explained the comments were private and meant to be extreme.
1/ THREAD: Harvard rescinded my acceptance.
Three months after being admitted to Harvard Class of 2023, Harvard has decided to rescind my admission over texts and comments made nearly two years ago, months prior to the shooting.
I have some thoughts. Here’s what happened.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
2/ A few weeks ago, I was made aware of egregious and callous comments classmates and I made privately years ago – when I was 16 years old, months before the shooting – in an attempt to be as extreme and shocking as possible.
I immediately apologized.
Here is my apology: pic.twitter.com/eI38ziiQE8
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
3/ After I issued this apology, speculative articles were written, my peers used the opportunity to attack me, and my life was once again reduced to a headline.
It sent me into one of the darkest spirals of my life.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
4/ After the story broke, former peers & political opponents began contacting Harvard urging them to rescind me. Harvard then sent this letter stating that Harvard "reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission" and requested a written explanation within 72 hours. pic.twitter.com/RfEQCvjgDX
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
5/ I responded to the letter with a full explanation, apology, and requested documents. pic.twitter.com/yWd6FeKWOJ
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
6/ I also sent an email to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to seek guidance on how to right this wrong and work with them once I was on campus. pic.twitter.com/3M1UEXXeQm
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
7/ Harvard decided to rescind my admission with the following letter. pic.twitter.com/P3bLkF3hHn
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
8/ Somewhat ironically, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion sent me this response regarding my apology:
“Thank you for your email. We appreciate your thoughtful reflections and look forward to connecting with you upon your matriculation in the fall of 2020…" pic.twitter.com/YUX67QW3KE
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
9/ After receiving Harvard’s letter revoking my acceptance, I responded by asking for the opportunity to have an in-person meeting to make my case face to face and work towards any possible path of reconciliation.
Harvard responded by declining my meeting request. pic.twitter.com/rdsGU7BhjD
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
10/ Harvard deciding that someone can’t grow, especially after a life-altering event like the shooting, is deeply concerning. If any institution should understand growth, it’s Harvard, which is looked to as the pinnacle of higher education despite its checkered past.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
11/ Throughout its history, Harvard’s faculty has included slave owners, segregationists, bigots and antisemites. If Harvard is suggesting that growth isn't possible and that our past defines our future, then Harvard is an inherently racist institution.
But I don't believe that.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
12/ I believe that institutions and people can grow. I've said that repeatedly.
In the end, this isn’t about me, it's about whether we live in a society in which forgiveness is possible or mistakes brand you as irredeemable, as Harvard has decided for me.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
13/ So what now? I’m figuring it out.
I had given up huge scholarships in order to go to Harvard, and the deadline for accepting other college offers has ended.
I’m exploring all options at the moment.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) June 17, 2019
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Comments
Harvard takes David whatsisname who didn’t qualify for admission but rejected Kyle Kashuv who did. Harvard also harmed Kyle’s chances for admittance and scholarships elsewhere.
Kyle made two huge mistakes: applying to Harvard; apologizing for being a 16-year old.
Kyle now has one recourse: sue the sonsabitches.
Kyle made two huge mistakes: applying to Harvard; apologizing for being a 16-year old.”
He made a third huge mistake – posting electronic messages under a name that could be easily traced back to him. The iconic phrase we all know now applies to every word one writes in every possible context: Everything you say can and WILL be used against you. That’s our modern world.
“Kyle now has one recourse: sue the sonsabitches.”
Not possible – he has no contractual right to acceptance, no more than you or I do. It’s their game, their rules.
He was 16 years old. You think other students Harvard has accepted didn’t send bad texts when they were kids?
Want to bet if someone looked for and found Hogg’s early writing and it was the same or worse that Harvard would revoke his spot? Heck, you can’t even get dems to toss their racist Va. gov, lt.gov and rapist ag.
It doesn’t matter. They don’t owe him admission, so they can rescind their offer for any reason they like, or just on a whim.
Didn’t Bakke sue to get accepted into medical school in a landmark decision?
Bakke case – that was a long time ago, forgot about that one! But that was a case where Bakke was denied because the State of California, acting through its school system, had set up strict Racial Quotas for admissions, and Bakke was denied solely because of his race, even though he met all other criteria.
Bakke was a case of racial discrimination. If Kashuv’s offer had been rescinded because of his race, sex, sexual orientation, etc., then he could sue. But it wasn’t, so he can’t. Harvard is entitled to reject him for any reason except those specifically prohibited by law.
I say horrible things under my own name. The only source of truth today is retired people.
I’m self employed for the same reason… and now my employer won’t fire me for carrying while I’m at work.
Harvard will eventually go the way of Oberlin.
I doubt it. Harvard is in a much stronger position. They have almost uncountable billions in their endowment, instead of just one billion. And they’ll always be the oldest university in the United States with all that prestigious history.
Really surprised the sjw’s haven’t figured out how to separate Harvard from a bunch of those billions.
Maybe we can start a slavery reparation payment demand from Harvard?
And the acceptance, plus his reliance on it, don’t create any rights? Really?
Unfortunately not.
You mean david, the joseph goebbels look-alike?
I’d ask Hah-vahd WHY they hired a full professor [Lieawatha] who graduated from Rutgers Law [ranked 184 at the time] and who “culturally appropriated” and flat-out lied about her Native American heritage? While you’re at it, ask WHY they didn’t expel Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy who cheated on an exam?
Then, I’d get a good lawyer and sue.
Sue for what? They don’t owe him anything.
Never apologize. And Harvard should be ashamed of itself for falling into the social justice, leftist hysteria. They’ve been taken over. Whatever are Americans to do about our education system? The commies warned us about taking over our education system, we didn’t listen…
Harvard now needs to ask its students accepted for ALL private texts they sent as 16 years old.
It doesn’t need to do anything it doesn’t want to. Kashuv is not entitled to fairness.
“Diversity and Inclusion”
Newspeak is the language of Oceania and Harvard.
Anyone else wonder who circulated the supposed private texts?
All the while they shut down access to their own accounts.
I don’t do Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media … never have, never will. I have no idea what offensive comments were made … but assuming there was no defamation as in the Oberlin case, it appears to me Hah-vahd is acting as “speech police” and effectively denying him First Amendment freedom of speech.
God knows Hah-vahd has plenty of commie profs who spew their anti-Israel, anti-Trump, anti-US pablum … and all of it is free speech, as well it should be. Pot … meet kettle.
It’s hard to have to say this over and over again, but the 1st Amendment only applies to Governmental bodies. No one has any “1st Amendment Rights” against any private person, or organization. With State Schools there may be an exception because, of course, they are owned by the State.
State schools are definitely bound by the constitution. If this were a state school he’d probably have grounds to sue. Private schools such as Harvard are not.
If Harvard gets federal monies in any way, shape or form, it´s very much a government issue.
No, it isn’t. Receiving government money does not make Harvard a state actor.
Tom Servo about the likelihood of success a a lawsuit against by Kashuv against Harvard:
“Not possible – he has no contractual right to acceptance, no more than you or I do. It’s their game, their rules.”
I disagree. Kashuv relied to his detriment upon Harvard’s having actually admitted him. Harvard has the contractual obligation to behave in a REASONABLE manner pursuant to the rules it established for its ability to rescind an admission. It appears to me that Facebook posts of a 16 year old are do not necessarily to call into question the moral character of an 18 year old.
Technically that’s possible; but I believe he’d have a very difficult time showing actual economic damages – theoretical future economic damages are generally not allowed. He has plenty of time to be admitted to another school. Harvard doesn’t even give a very good education anymore, really – almost any State School does a better job. The only real value in a “Harvard Education” is the Alumni Club you’re allowed to join.
Note that in the Gibson’s case we’ve been following, the $11 Million Jury award was for what the Jury determined was their *actual* damages. Oberlin disagree’s with that finding of course, and that’s what their appeal will undoubtedly be focused on.
But he had other offers of admission from other schools that had scholarship grants attached to them. Because he turned them down to accept Harvard’s offer of admission, he does have a demonstrable monetary loss. While he might be able to talk one of the schools into letting him change his mind, it’s unlikely they will reinstate the grant. The rescinding from Harvard might also color his prospects of admission elsewhere. I’ve taught high school seniors who have lost their admission to college because they blew off their last semester of high school or got into serious trouble with the law over the summer, but I never saw anyone lose their admission over something that should have been known before the acceptance was granted unless a student lied on the application.
First, I want to be clear that what Harvard did was horrible; but especially lately, many seem to have forgotten that Court’s are not the place where Every Awful Thing is fixed. It’s going to be quite some time whether anyone knows whether this will harm Kyle or not; it may even help him by raising his name recognition so much. Maybe he can launch a future political career from this, who knows at this point.
Also, and it probably doesn’t apply to this case, but I’ve heard that lately it’s become trendy for highly recruited High School Seniors to accept admission at several schools, just to keep their options open, and then to wait until late summer when it’s time to enroll before they actually let the schools know where they’re going to be attending.
Colleges send out acceptance letters and give students a set amount of time to respond. Usually around a month unless they do an early rolling admissions. The response from the student routinely requires a non-refundable deposit from the student- one to hold a seat in class and other to hold a room in the dorm. The colleges do it to discourage just what you’re suggesting kids do. If the price of holding a place at school while you make up your mind is $500 or more, and that’s in the ballpark for most places, and you got accepted to your first place school, it’s unlikely you send deposits to several places. If Harvard accepts you, and you want to go, you don’t send money to Second Place School. The only kids who save seats for themselves at their second or third choices are the ones who haven’t heard from their first choice school yet.
Frankly that’s ridiculous. Of COURSE it harmed Mr. Kashuv. Quantify the value of a Harvard admission by the prices paid in the Varsity Blues, add some because his lower socioeconomic status means his alternatives were less (he NEEDED that opportunity).
Courts are not the places where all hurts are soothed. But they are places where tort cases are heard.
It would be a hoot for Harvard to argue and introduce evidence that its degree is not worth any more than that of other universities.
Also in the case of Oberlin just saying you disagree with a finding is not a valid appeal basis. They have to demonstrate an actual legal error. Things like mistakes in law or jury instructions that are not lawful are examples.
As I understand it he was not admitted, he was offered admission, and the offer was not binding and could be withdrawn at the college’s discretion. That he relied on it to his detriment is just too bad for him.
He was offered admission. He accepted it. He paid a deposit.
Offer, acceptance, consideration, that’s a contract!
No, it isn’t a contract. Acceptance letters can be rescinded at any time.
He did act in reliance on their offer. Significantly (I believe), the school is using his actions before the offer to revoke it; I think the order of events is important and could affect the results of a lawsuit.
I’m not sure why an avowed conservative would wish to subject themselves to the Harvard experience.
harvard, amherst (my alma mater), oberlin, etc of my youth are all lost to the left now, nothing more than re-education gulags. my humble advice to mr. kashuv: you are an intelligent, thoughtful, principled, nice young man with a bright future. don’t waste one more brain cell over harvard’s decision. you will do well in life, and likely be better off for having passed on harvard. why not take a long view and do a stint in the armed forces before college? it will be some of your most worthwhile education.
I couldn’t possibly agree with you more. There is something horrible about asking young people who have possibly never even had a summer job to decide what they want to do with the rest of their lives and then to invest a quarter of a million dollars or more in that “education.”
Oberlin degree will probably not be worth the paper they are printed on after Gibson gate is over.
The kid SHOULD sue them…and then, having won (how can he not? It’s blatant discrimination)he should REFUSE to attend. A Conservative can find no advantage from a school like Harvard. And, as time passes, more and more business owners (like myself) would NEVER hire a grad from a place like Harvard or Yale or Berkeley. I don’t want an indoctrinated Leftist “activist” hater making problems for my company or my success.
The kid SHOULD sue them…and then, having won (how can he not? It’s blatant discrimination)he should REFUSE to attend.”
Of course it’s discrimination – ALL College admissions, like all job interviews, like most everything else we all do requires discrimination. You can enroll, but you can’t, you are hired, but you aren’t – that’s Discrimination, every bit of it.
and it’s legal.
The Civil Rights act only bans discrimination on the basis of Race, Sex, Religion, or National Origin. And we’ve added disability with the ADA, and Age with the ADEA, and the big fight right now is going on over sexual and gender “preference”.
But unless someone fits into a “Protected Class”, and are discriminated against on that basis, then you, and anybody else, can discriminate against them all you want.
Now it does make a good discussion to point out how this entire move since 1964, to create classes of “Protected Citizens” and “Unprotected Citizens” has really been catastrophic for the entire American System of government; but that’s where we are.
Logically, he wouldn’t win a suit on the basis of discrimination against members of a protected class, because he’s not a member of any protected class. White and Asian males are the unprotected.
Maybe there’s another basis (probably many) on which he could win, but not that one.
I think that to fix this situation, we should either repeal all the protected classes (not gonna happen) or jump the shark and make white and Asian males also protected classes. Protect everyone! That seems fair to me.
Then we would truly outlaw discrimination based on categories such as race and sex.
He’s a survivor of a school shooting. Not many incoming freshman can say they were. They should have taken into consideration the impact their bizarre decision would have on trauma he already has, from shooting
What they should have done is irrelevant. They should have welcomed Kashuv and refused Hogg. But they’re not required to. They have every right to discriminate on any basis except those specified by law.
That is not true. There is no such thing as a “protected class”. There are prohibited grounds for discrimination, and those are prohibited no matter which way they go. It is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, and it is just as illegal to do so against white people as it is against black people.
But it is completely legal to discriminate on any grounds except those specifically prohibited by law.
Google “protected class”. For all the legal pontificating you do, I assumed you would know this.
Google is not a legal authority. There is no such thing as a protected class. The anti-discrimination laws are completely neutral. They prohibit discrimination on listed grounds, not against specific classes.
Indeed, if you Google it, you will find that every site that claims there are “protected classes” will go on to give examples, none of which are classes! “Race”, for instance, is not a class. It’s impossible to discriminate against people who have a race, because there isn’t anyone who doesn’t. Race is a grounds on which it is possible, but illegal, to discriminate. “White people”, “black people”, “brown people” are all classes, but none of them are protected by law. Discriminating against someone because of his membership in any of them is equally illegal.
Good to see that high school is the new time threshold for professional behavior. In 20 years my kid will be ineligible for a job for calling someone a meanie in preschool. Does anyone know some prominent liberal who may have made questionable comments on video when they were 14?
I’m wondering when Hah-vahd and other fancy-Dan, countgry-club-set schools will start to see their reputations crumble. In my view, this can’t happen soon enough.
Note, my incoherent last sentence above should be,
“It appears to me that Facebook posts of a 16 year old do not necessarily call into question the moral character of an 18 year old.”
Kyle seems too smart to want to attend such a “school”—-I put that in quote marks because it really doesn’t seem to be a university of higher learning any longer.
I’m disappointed in his written response….it reads professionally “handled” to me, rather than an 18 year old composing it.
Mr. Kashuv has been articulate and composed in the intense public debate around the Parkland massacre that he’s participated in. I have little doubt he could perform again under pressure, as here.
But it didn’t matter, nothing mattered.
2nd mistake – applying to and accepting admission to a left wing commie school.
It’s not what it was, and it hasn’t been for a long time.
Get an education kid, not a piece of paper.
It is becoming almost impossible to find a college or university in the US to provide an “education” that isn’t both commie and left-wing.
At this point, I don’t think that anyone if surprised that the Left’s totalitarian and thuggish politics of personal destruction have spread from destroying professional livelihoods and careers, to sabotaging college admissions and enrolled students.
The Left has demonstrated that they will gleefully use scorched earth tactics to bully, punish and vilify Americans who have the temerity to reject Leftist orthodoxies and to hold alternative viewpoints.
Conservatives need to respond in kind.
Wonder if they scavenge through the emails of their affirmative action admissions?
A fair few of those affirmative action admissions can’t turn on a computer, never mind send an email.
It’s as if they made a point of stringing him along so that he could not attend a different university this year.
In his letter of June 11, declining to meet with Mr. Kashuv, Mr. Fitzsimmons writes “Decisions of the Admissions Committee are final.”
Apparently that’s not a correct statement.
Is that true that the decision is not final? Or is it just an intimidation tactic so he won’t sue?
Clearly decisions of the Admissions Committee are NOT final. The Admissions Committee made a decision to offer Kyle a seat at their university and then changed their mind. That doesn’t spell “final” in anyone’s book.
“Final” means they won’t listen to your pleas to change it. It doesn’t mean they can’t change it.
So what the Harvard Admissions Office says doesn’t bind them, but it does bind the applicant?
That makes no sense at all, normally things are the other way around. It could be worth raising as a legal issue.
No, it doesn’t bind the applicant either. The applicant can decide at any time that he doesn’t want to go to Harvard after all. Indeed, colleges routinely send out more acceptance letters than they can possibly accommodate, because they know in advance that some will be declined, just as airlines routinely overbook planes, knowing in advance that some people won’t show up.
Diversity breeds adversity. Don’t indulge color judgments. #HateLovesAbortion
Did Harvard time this notification to tell Kyle until after his other opportunities for alternate colleges was up?
In the long run, Kyle, Harvard has done you a favor by withdrawing your acceptance.
But…you still should make them hurt and hurt bad for their SJW BS.
If Harvard fails to review the social media accounts of all high school students who apply for admission, they are practicing a form of discrimination that violates their own standards. How many 16-year-olds have records free of swear words, derogatory comments, silly slurs? None.
“they are practicing a form of discrimination that violates their own standards.”
So what? They’re entitled to discriminate in any way they like, except those prohibited by law.
He will lose, sorry.
This is the world we live in now.
I’m reminded of the scene in Animal House where they were about to destroy Flounder’s Uncle’s car with the observation that “You f@#$ed up. You trusted us.” Cheers –
I’m wondering how this came to the attention of Harvard. What kind of moron sits around and worries about stuff like this and then tries to ruin someone’s life over something stupid they did in high school?
Think of all of the people who carried David Hogg around on their shoulders.
Starting with CNN
Numerous choices as to who would have done this.
And I guar-an-damn-tee-ya that Hoggboy has similar, if not worse examples in his online past, on top of being a sub-par HS student
Yes, but Hogg’s public tweets are being protected and hidden. While Kashuv has a Google private doc leaked. I almost suspect the FBI or someone with a FISA warrant did this.
After all Kashuv did meet Trump. Did that get him included in FISA umbrella surveillance?
I have a feeling a member of the ol’ gang, who was either of opposing ideology or blabbed to someone who was such, got a little jealous of his success in the college sweepstakes.
That last letter from Harvard is a real piece of work. They appear to be advising this poor kid to go to a junior college.
This is a blessing in disguise.
Kyle, apply to Hillsdale. It’s a better fit for you anyway.
A convicted felon who served eight years in prison for carjacking at age 16, won a fellowship to Harvard University :https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2017/09/29/felon-who-graduated-from-yale-allowed-to-become-lawyer
“Harvard deciding that someone can’t grow, especially after a life-altering event like the shooting…”
The rescission isn’t about you, Kyle. They’re just using you as a prop for their virtue signaling to ensure your vile “critics” don’t target them (again).
I am rather puzzled. What was the awful things he said? I doubt if he said anything that has not been said by American of all ranks and types over the years until leftist cultural warriors in recent years have inaugurated a reign of terror against free expression. If I recall correctly,
even Lincoln in his debate with Douglas declared that blacks were inferior to whites; Wilson
instituted racial segregation in government offices; etc, etc., etc.
I assume it involved the so-called “n word”.
Instead of posting dozens of tweets or screenshots, just invoke the threader Twitter app and post that.
Tweeter copypasta articles are a waste of space.
As for the revokation itself, is anybody surprised?
What are the chances the CNN mommy and FBI daddy of that Fascist turd Hogg were involved?
The kid should have said the Russians went back in time and hacked his phone. It worked for Joy Reid.
Hey, at least Harvard still has the quotas on chinks.
It reminds me of Groucho Marx saying that he would not want to belong to any club that would admit him. The are schools where he can get a better education. Maybe West Point.
“it’s about whether we live in a society in which forgiveness is possible or mistakes brand you as irredeemable…”
We do but not if it involves an opportunity to punish for a negative racial remark, even a distant one. It’s never about the individual but about maintaining intimidation & black power. Sad. Yet unconstitutional and illegal racial discrimination against Whites & East Asians (“Affirmative Action”) is maintained on the lie it represents some sort of overriding social justice.