Kyle Rittenhouse, the teen acquitted last month in the fatal shootings of two unarmed men at a Wisconsin protest, boasted in a recent interview that he’ll be attending Arizona State University “in person” this spring to study pre-law.
The university said he hasn’t applied for admission.
“Mr. Rittenhouse” is “welcome to apply for admission, and will be treated as any other applicant would be if and when he does,” ASU spokesperson Jay Thorne told Forbes in a statement Friday.
The deadline to apply for spring admission was Nov. 1, according to ASU’s website.
“I’m a college student studying nursing at Arizona State University,” Rittenhouse said on the witness stand early last month when he testified in his own defense. Rittenhouse was taking two online nursing classes at ASU that began in mid-October, but dropped out last month.
ASU said at the time that Rittenhouse had enrolled as a non-degree-seeking online student for the session that started in mid-October, although he hadn’t gone through the admissions process and wasn’t enrolled in the nursing school, The Arizona Republic reported. He ceased being a student when he dropped the courses, according to ASU.
Rittenhouse said on the conservative podcast “Louder With Crowder” that he’s “at college,” but that he took a “compassionate withdrawal” from his online classes. He insisted that he was still a student. “I’m like, I’m enrolled, I’m just not in any classes. I’m admitted,” he said.
Scores of ASU students protested on campus early this month following the news Rittenhouse was taking online classes. The university issued a statement in the wake of the protest that Rittenhouse had “not gone through the ASU admissions process and was “not currently enrolled in any classes,” The Associated Press reported.
An online petition posted by students demanding Rittenhouse be barred from attending ASU has been signed by nearly 17,000 people.
Check out the podcast featuring Rittenhouse here. He talks about being a college student beginning at 30:43.