Colleges Rescinding Admissions Offers as Racist Social Media Posts Emerge

“As a public university, we are legally required to uphold the principles of free speech embodied in the First Amendment to the Constitution,” Clif Smart, the Missouri State University president, wrote in a public statement. “The video — as hurtful, insensitive and offensive as it is — is protected by the First Amendment, as was the language in the social media posts.”

The most recent student to face consequences is Nate Panza, 18, a football recruit for Cornell University from Watchung, N.J., who was recorded using a racial slur in a Snapchat video in late June. “Oh wait, you can’t put that one up,” he says in the recording.

The video spread quickly on Twitter, and though he issued an apology, Mr. Panza lost his spot on the football team the next day, according to The Cornell Daily Sun. But the move failed to quell calls to revoke his admission offer, including in an online petition signed by more than 400 people.

On Tuesday, the student newspaper reported that Mr. Panza would no longer be attending Cornell, though the exact reason remains unclear.

Mr. Panza could not be reached, and a university spokeswoman declined to comment.

At a time when many American institutions have been outspoken about their opposition to racism, Cornell’s silence stands in marked contrast to several other universities, including the University of Richmond, which announced last week that it had rescinded its admissions offer to the student who recorded the video of Mr. Panza and who can also be heard using a racial slur while mentioning Mr. Floyd.

The video “did not reflect the University’s values or its commitment to a thriving and inclusive community,” according to a statement the university posted on Twitter, which said the student’s actions violated admissions standards.

Faced with mounting public pressure over recent episodes, many other universities have taken a similar approach. In early June, Marquette University, a private Catholic school in Milwaukee, announced that it had rescinded both its admissions offer and an athletics scholarship to a white student who had proclaimed on Snapchat that “it’s OK to kneel on someone’s head” because some people think kneeling during the national anthem is acceptable.

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