By Andrew Pillow
If you are like me you are constantly telling your students to be careful about the things they post online. You never know who is watching and what the consequences will be. Well now you have yet another concrete example to choose from. Several students had their admissions to Harvard revoked because of offensive memes shared in a group chat.
The Rolling Stone sums up the controversy:
Memes included messages that joked about finding child abuse sexually arousing and that mocked the Holocaust. One screenshot obtained by The Crimson showed the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child with the caption, “piñata time.”
The admissions office, upon catching wind of the troubling Facebook group chat, emailed students who had posted offensive memes in April, asking them to disclose and explain every picture they had posted in the group. “The Admissions Committee was disappointed to learn that several students in a private group chat for the Class of 2021 were sending messages that contained offensive messages and graphics,” an email from the admission’s office, obtained by The Crimson, read. “As we understand you were among the members contributing such material to this chat, we are asking that you submit a statement by tomorrow at noon to explain your contributions and actions for discussion with the Admissions Committee.”
Some are applauding Harvard’s decision. Some predictably are at odds with the decision.
Read more here. (via: Rolling Stone)