Harvard University has rescinded admissions offers to at least 10 prospective college students after they posted offensive photos and messages on social media.
The Harvard Crimson reports a number of students admitted to the Harvard College Class of 2021 started a private Facebook messaging group for incoming Freshman titled "Harvard memes for horny bourgeois teens."
Students in the group allegedly posted and shared messages joking about the Holocaust, mocking sexual assault and the abuse of children. The messages also allegedly targeted racial and ethnic groups, according to the Crimson. One alleged meme called the imaginary hanging of a Mexican child "piñata time."
After learning of the group's existence and its contents in April, at least 10 members of the group chat received letters informing them that their offers of admission had been reversed. The decision to rescind a student's offer is final, university officials previously told the Crimson.
Harvard spokeswoman Rachael Dane told the Crimson Saturday that the school doesn't "comment publicly on the admissions status of individual applicants."
The chat was an offshoot of the official Harvard Class of 2021 Facebook group, a 100-member messaging group that admitted students launched to share memes about pop culture.
According to one student, some members suggested forming a "more R-rated" meme chat. Cassandra Luca told the Crimson that founders of the "dark" group chat demanded that students post provocative memes in the original messaging group before allowing them to join the splinter group.
