Harvard University has rescinded admissions for at least ten Students who would have been in the Class of 2021. The students are not allowed to attend the prestigious school in Cambridge, Massachusetts after they posted obscene memes and messages in a private Facebook group chat. After Harvard administrators discovered the chat and its contents, they revoked the admission offers.
Memes and messages
A group of students admitted that they formed a messaging group on Facebook last December that was titled, “Harvard Memes for Horny Bourgeois Teens." The students sent each other images and memes that mocked the Holocaust, death of children, and offensive jokes about specific ethnic and racial groups.
School's decision supported
The school's Facebook page warns incoming students about the possibility that their offers could be rescinded if they displayed behavior that was not acceptable to the school. Those who posted knew the consequences, but that did not keep them from posting.
Many students who are already enrolled supported their school's decision to withdraw offers to admit those who posted obscene messages. Members of the incoming Class of 2021 who were not involved in the group chat said they strongly support Harvard's decision. They thought the students’ actions warranted the punishment they received.
A few people said they thought it was wrong for Harvard to rescind the offers because of the First Amendment and free speech.
They said those who posted did so on their own time before they became students.
Second time
This is the second time students have posted offensive messages online, but this is the first time admissions have been rescinded. Last spring, members of the Class of 2020 joked about race and mocked feminists in a group chat. Officials issued a statement condemning the students’ actions, but no one was expelled from the school.
When asked why the Class of 2020 got off easier than the Class of 2021, college spokesperson Rachael Dane made a statement that the school does not make public comments about the status of applicants. However, she emphasized that the school's decision to rescind a student’s offer is final. This is a very unfortunate situation for the students and their families.
Even with the withdrawal of at least ten members of the Class of 2021, it is still the biggest incoming class in recent history. Of the 40,000 applicants, 2,056 were accepted.
