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Kyle Rittenhouse is no longer enrolled at Arizona State, school officials say

UPDATE: Kyle Rittenhouse is no longer enrolled in classes at Arizona State University, a university spokesperson told McClatchy News.

Student groups upset that he was enrolled at one point say they still plan to push school officials to denounce white supremacy, Students for Socialism at ASU said in a Tweet.

The original story is below.

At least four student organizations at Arizona State University are calling on the school to remove Kyle Rittenhouse as a student.

Students for Socialism, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition and MECHA de ASU plan to protest Rittenhouse’s enrollment on campus on Dec. 1.

The clubs have a shared list of demands for the university, including that Rittenhouse be withdrawn from ASU and the university release a statement denouncing white supremacy and Rittenhouse’s actions.

Rittenhouse made national headlines for fatally shooting two people and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The protests took place on Aug. 25, 2020, two days after a white Kenosha police officer shot Jacob Blake four times in the back at close range during an arrest. Blake, who is Black, survived but remains paralyzed from the waist down.

Rittenhouse, a former police youth cadet, was 17 at the time of the shooting, and was carrying an AR-15 style gun. Described as a wanna-be cop by some and a patriot by others, he was charged with — and later acquitted of — homicide, attempted homicide and reckless endangering.

He testified at his recent trial that he was enrolled as an online student at ASU, where he was studying nursing, The Arizona Republic reported.

However, the university clarified that Rittenhouse is not enrolled in the nursing program and is actually a non-degree-seeking student, a status that allows students to take classes for “transfer credit, personal growth or as prerequisites for a desired program,” according to the university’s independent student news organization, The State Press.

Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges on Nov. 19. Prosecutors argued Rittenhouse was perceived as an “active shooter” and the shooting was unjustified because he was not at risk of bodily harm — while Rittenhouse’s lawyers argued he was acting in self-defense and the case had become “political.”

Rittenhouse previously said that after the trial, he hoped to move out of the Midwest, live on campus at ASU and study either nursing or law, The Chicago Tribune reported.

But some ASU students and student organizations say they’re apprehensive about the idea of Rittenhouse joining them on campus.

The groups also want the university to redirect funding from its police department toward the multicultural center, according to a tweet from Students for Socialism at ASU.

“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 organizations said in their list of demands. “Join us to demand from ASU that these demands be met.”

A spokesperson for Students for Socialism at ASU told Fox News that the goal of the protest is to show the ASU administration that students feel unsafe “knowing that a mass shooter, who has expressed violent intentions about ‘protecting property over people,’ is so carelessly allowed to be admitted to the school at all.”

“Our campus is already unsafe as is, and we would like to abate this danger as much as possible,” the spokesperson said, adding that the clubs are critical of how the entire U.S. justice system handled Rittenhouse’s trial.

This isn’t the first time Rittenhouse has made waves in the ASU community. Last year, a club known for racist and antisemitic comments held a fundraiser for Rittenhouse’s legal defense fund, The State Press reported.

College Republicans United at ASU, deemed a “far-right extremist group” by ASU College Republicans, pledged to donate half its funds from the 2020-2021 school year to Rittenhouse. The club said on Twitter that it had donated $14,000 to Rittenhouse last year.

The university said it did not support the fund, but that there was no policy prohibiting student groups from raising money for a specific cause, The State Press reported.

The group, which ASU has said is not a registered student organization because it doesn’t have a qualified primary advisor, said it was glad Rittenhouse got a “fair trial” and that its members were thinking of reaching out to Rittenhouse as a friendly gesture, The Arizona Republic reported.

The university said that the outcome of Rittenhouse’s trial would not have impacted his enrollment status, as ASU does not ask questions about criminal history in the admissions process or for online enrollment, The Arizona Republic reported.

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