ASU protest against Rittenhouse 'still on' despite revelation that he is no longer enrolled
Left-wing student organizations at ASU refined their list of demands to include denying “further admission” to Kyle Rittenhouse.
Students released a press statement affirming Wednesday’s protest and condemning the University for “galvaniz[ing] support for facism on campus”
Students at Arizona State University still plan to hold a “Killer Off Campus” protest on Wednesday- even after realizing that Kyle Rittenhouse is no longer enrolled at the school.
As reported by Campus Reform, left-wing students at ASU had taken to social media to rally support for a protest to pressure the University to withdraw Rittenhouse’s admission at the University.
Participating student organizations include Students for Socialism, Mecha de ASU, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition.
Rittenhouse had been enrolled through ASU’s Online Program for a non-degree seeking course. In the original demands, organizing students listed “withdraw Kyle Rittenhouse from ASU” as top priority.
But two days ahead of the scheduled protest, ASU revealed to Campus Reform that Rittenhouse is no longer even enrolled.
Here’s our extended statement regarding Kyle Rittenhouse on campus, including our revised demands.
The protest is still on! See you Wednesday at 3:30PM! pic.twitter.com/9nSHacbBHR— Students for Socialism ASU 🚩 (@SFSASU) November 30, 2021
In light, students have now updated their list of demands ahead of the protest to reflect the news. Rather than demanding that the school withdraw Rittenhouse, the students now demand the university take further action by “deny[ing] Kyle Rittenhouse further admission to ASU”.
The students issued a press release concerning their updated demands, comparing the Rittenhouse trial to the Greensboro Massacre and expressing concern that the threat isn’t only Rittenhouse’s presence on campus, but the “racist and fascist right-wing elements that he will bring to campus.”
“Since Rittenhouse shot and killed two anti-racist protestors and wounded another, he has been followed online and in real-life by extremely violent right-wing nazis, fascists, and klan hanger-ons,” the statement claimed. “Having such a high-profile right-wing fascist icon on our campus would be giving these organizations a free pass to recruit and organize students.”
The statement went on to accuse the university of allowing right-wing organizations to “agitate freely” on campus, and condemned the school for being silent and upholding “violence against Black and Brown people.”
The students promised to continue to respond to lack of university action and cited previous protests against “support for fascism on campus”, including events hosting Joe Arpaio, “fascist ICE thugs”, and killer IDF soldiers.”
“Our priority as student organizations is the safety of students above all else, and in this case safety from fascist violence. We are calling on the ASU administration, and our president Michael Crow, to stop hiding and denounce white supremacy by denying Rittenhouse any further enrollment at ASU,” the statement read.
Other demands remained unchanged, including a university-issued statement denouncing both white supremacy and Rittenhouse, reaffirmed support for the Multicultural Center on campus, and the redirecting funds from the ASU Police Department to the Multicultural Center and creation of a “CAARE Center” on campus.
Campus Reform has reached out to ASU and all organizations involved for comment and will update the article accordingly.
