Arizona State University Say Kyle Rittenhouse Is No Longer Enrolled After Students Called For His Removal
Is this going too far?
YouTube / Forge Productions / Shutterstock.com Kyle Rittenhouse is not currently an Arizona State University student, the university confirmed after outcry from student organizations.
Left-leaning student organizations at Arizona State University had been requesting that the administration “withdraw” Kyle Rittenhouse from the school.
Rittenhouse was recently acquitted of all charges related to a 2020 shooting in which he killed two men and injured another in Wisconsin.
The verdict has been criticized by many, including Rittenhouse's potential classmates at ASU. However, it looks like their protests are unneccessary.
“Our records show that he is not currently enrolled,” ASU spokesperson Jay Thorne wrote in an email. “There was no action taken by the university.”
Some ASU student groups wanted Kyle Rittenhouse to be removed.
The Arizona State University Students for Socialism, Students for Justice in Palestine, Multicultural Solidarity Coalition, and MECHA de ASU, called Rittenhouse a “murderer” and want him banned from their campus that they deem is “already unsafe.”
The right-wing icon has been doing his country-wide tour, visiting conservatives, sitting down with Tucker Carlson of FOX News and meeting Donald Trump — but now it seems like he just wants to learn new things and live his life.
Rittenhouse was enrolled in online nursing classes at the University, but wasn't actually seeking a degree, according to some research done by 12News.
"Kyle Rittenhouse has not gone through the admissions process with Arizona State University and is not enrolled in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation," the university said.
"ASU can confirm that Mr. Rittenhouse enrolled as a non-degree seeking ASU Online student for the session that started Oct. 13, 2021, which allows students access to begin taking classes as they prepare to seek admission into a degree program at the university."
It is unclear why Rittenhouse is no longer enrolled.
Kyle Rittenhouse can still enroll at ASU.
“Any qualified individual can apply for admission,” Thorne wrote in an email.
The same would have been true even if Rittenhouse had gotten a guilty verdict. ASU does not ask questions about criminal history in the admissions process or for online enrollment, so even if Rittenhouse was in prison, he could continue as an ASU online student.
Aside from the removal of Rittenhouse, the student organizations have made 3 other demands, also asking the administration to release statements vilifying white supremacy and racism, and to support the school’s multicultural center with funds and making it safe from white supremacy.
They’ve organized a rally for December 1st with aims to try and help their cause against Rittenhouse.
"Even with a not-guilty verdict from a flawed ‘justice’ system - Kyle Rittenhouse is still guilty to his victims and the families of those victims," the demand letter states. "Join us to demand from ASU that those demands be met to protect students from a violent blood-thirsty murderer."
The rally has not yet been cancelled despite the confirmation that Rittenhouse is no longer and online student.
Although Arizona is historically right-leaning and conservative, ASU is relatively left-leaning. Several surveys show that show liberal students outweigh conservative students while moderates matching up to the more left-leaning group.
The groups claimed that Rittenhouse was a “mass shooter,” although mass shootings are commonly defined as shootings with four or more victims — the Kenosha shooting only involved three.
They also claimed that the campus was already unsafe, but didn’t elaborate on this point.
Should Kyle Rittenhouse be allowed attend ASU?
While it’s entirely agreeable that the Rittenhouse case was botched and that his acquittal shouldn’t have happened, it’s also not fair to target Rittenhouse and deny him the right to an education — denying people of their rights isn't what the left should stand for.
Hate him all you want, but he deserves to get an education just as much as anybody else. His life shouldn’t be ruined just because he took two others.
If anything, people should be happy that he wants to get educated because while he might have killed two people and paraded around as the alt-right mascot, an education means that he might shed off some of that ignorance and change his ways.
He already told Tucker Carlson that his trial had nothing to do with race and everything to do with self-defense — that he even supports the Black Lives Matter movement.
It’s widely debated that the education gap in the US is what landed Trump in the White House in the first place, and according to Pew Research Center statistics, more college graduates voted blue vs the more non-graduates voting red.
According to more Pew Research Center statistics, college graduates are more likely to lean liberally, so who knows what could happen during Rittenhouse’s college experience.
Isaac Serna-Diez is a writer who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Follow him on Twitter here.