Controversy erupted last week when Harvard University rescinded the admittance of gun rights activist and Parkland survivor Kyle Kashuv following an investigation into his past racist remarks.
Many political figures took to Twitter praising Harvard for doing the “right thing,” and noted that Kashuv can always apply to other schools. Meanwhile, conservative pundits promptly spoke out, with Guy Benson, Dana Loesch, and Katie Pavlich all jumping to Kashuv’s defense. Some even suggested that the real impetus for Harvard’s decision wasn’t the revelation of Kashuv’s past wrongs, but, rather, his political position as a prominent young conservative.
They’re wrong. Certainly, Kashuv’s plight is a sorry one, because he has been dragged through the mud for past mistakes without being given the chance to prove he’s changed. But Harvard didn’t turn him away because he is a conservative. After all, this isn’t the first time Harvard has made a decision like this.
In 2017, the school rescinded the acceptances of 10 students who posted racist and otherwise offensive memes to a private Facebook chat. In 2014, another student’s acceptance was reversed after being accused of rape — before any trial took place. All the way back in 2003, Harvard closed its doors on Blair Hornstine, who had been accused of plagiarism. So whether or not you agree with the standard of conduct that Harvard has set for its admitted students, Kashuv’s punishment doesn’t really deviate far from the norm, making claims of political bias hard to justify.
If anything, Harvard’s basis for rescinding admission is more concrete than usual — Kashuv has already admitted his own guilt, apologizing publicly for his actions. Additionally, as he took to Twitter to explain, he had apologized to Harvard directly, and had reached out to the on-campus Office of Diversity and Inclusion to seek advice on how to correct his past mistakes. Nonetheless, Harvard, it seems, refuses to be swayed in their decision.
In the most valid point of criticism against the Ivy League school, conservatives called out Harvard’s lack of willingness to acknowledge the possibility that a young person can grow. The popular conservative pundit and Harvard Law alumni Ben Shapiro was among one of the most prominent celebrities to defend Kashuv, tweeting that “Harvard’s auto-de-fe sets up an insane, cruel standard no one can possibly meet.”
Regardless of what you think of @KyleKashuv — and for the record, I think he, like many other Parkland survivors, has handled the public limelight with grace and strength — Harvard’s auto-da-fe sets up an insane, cruel standard no one can possibly meet. https://t.co/zgL26OPaSZ
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) June 17, 2019
It’s true that Harvard’s standards are hard to live up to in the social media era, as now nearly everything is recorded and can easily be made public. But it’s dishonest to pretend this is a solitary case. The applicants from 2017 suffered the same consequence as Kashuv, albeit with a relative level of anonymity that he was not granted.
Others defending Kashuv claimed his punishment was unfair because Parkland survivor and left-wing activist David Hogg, who was also admitted to Harvard, didn’t have his acceptance rescinded despite having tweeted some “inflammatory” things. But Hogg’s tweets, though indeed controversial, never contained racial slurs. And while the morality of inflammatory political rhetoric is debatable, the morality of racial epithets is not. Harvard’s response to Kasuv is in keeping with that sort of standard.
Should students be allowed the room to grow up and learn from mistakes? Absolutely. Is Kashuv being held to a much higher standard than most, given that his life is in the public eye? Certainly. If Kashuv were not a public figure, his offensive comments likely would have never come to light. But they did, and Harvard has remained consistent in their response.
There are things we need to come to conclusions on as a society, such as the level of fairness in Harvard’s standard of behavior, the morality of public figures celebrating Kashuv’s public humiliation, and how to treat young public figures fairly. But let’s not pretend Kashuv’s rescinded acceptance is an institutional plot by Harvard to target conservative students. It’s simply not the case.
Jordan Lancaster is a contributor for Young Voices and a senior political science major at Wake Forest University. You can follow her on Twitter @jordylancaster.
