Harvard Rescinds Acceptance Of Students Who Posted Holocaust And Racist Memes

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By Reuters June 5, 2017

Harvard University has revoked its acceptance of at least 10 applicants to its incoming freshman class after learning the group traded sexually explicit and racist images, some of which mocked the Holocaust, the student newspaper reported.

A university spokeswoman declined on Monday to comment on Sunday’s Harvard Crimson report, which cites multiple members of the incoming class, including one unnamed prospective who said his admission offer had been withdrawn.

The messages, exchanged on a private Facebook group, at times joked about sexual assault, ethnic groups and the Holocaust, and referred to child abuse as sexually arousing. One message referred to the hanging of a Mexican child as “pinata time,” the newspaper reported.

The Ivy League university notified the students in April that their admission offers had been revoked, the Crimson said.

“We do not comment publicly on the admissions status of individual applicants,” Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane said in an email.

University policies allow for admission offers to be rescinded under several circumstances, including if students fail to graduate high school, are shown to have lied on their applications or take part in conduct that brings their honesty, maturity or moral character into question.

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