A survivor of last year's shooting at a Florida high school said Monday that Harvard University has rescinded his admission over racist comments he made online and in text messages about two years ago.
Kyle Kashuv, 18, said on Twitter that the elite school at first asked him to explain the comments he made months before the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
"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," Kashuv wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The teen said he wrote back to Harvard, apologizing for "making idiotic comments, using callous and inflammatory language." But, he said, "the comments I made are not indicative of who I am or who I have become in the years since."
He told the school, "I also feel I am no longer the same person, especially in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting and all that has transpired since."
Days later, Kashuv says, he received a letter from the dean of admissions informing him that his admission had been revoked. "After careful consideration the committee voted to rescind your admission to Harvard College," William Fitzsimmons wrote in a letter dated June 3.
In a series of tweets, Kashuv disagreed with the university's decision. "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," Kashuv tweeted. "Throughout its history, Harvard's faculty has included slave owners, segregationists, bigots and antisemites."
Kashuv said he has not decided what to do next.
Harvard declined to comment, saying the school does not comment on admissions decisions. But it is not the first time the university has revoked admission offers over social media activity.
In 2017, Harvard rescinded admission offers to 10 students who had shared sexually explicit and offensive memes and messages in a private Facebook group.