By: Peter Suciu

Last month, Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted in a high-profile murder case.

While justice was served in the eyes of the law, many across the United States – including many Democratic lawmakers, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, publicly stated that they believed Rittenhouse remains a murderer, whose white privilege and background were factors in the jury decisions.

Instead of casting blame at what has been seen by some as a bungling of the case by the prosecution, or by acknowledging that it was clearly a case of self-defense, Rittenhouse’s guilt was pre-determined, and thus, the left has found fault with the legal system. Now it seems that if a conviction was out of reach, trying to ruin the young man’s life will suffice.

A small but very vocal alliance of left-leaning students at Arizona State University (ASU) successfully lobbied to have the 18-year-old removed from online classes after he had admitted in a TV interview that he had been taking virtual classes. The students were members of the Students for Socialism ASU, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition and Mecha de ASU.

Rittenhouse had reportedly begun taking the online classes in October, just prior to the start of the high-profile trial. The university had confirmed that while he was enrolled as a non-degree-seeking student, he had not gone through the admissions process and wasn’t enrolled in the nursing school.

Despite the fact that Rittenhouse continues to live in Illinois, the groups claimed they were concerned over safety!

“Our campus is already unsafe as is and we would like to abate this danger as much as possible,” a spokesperson for Students for Socialism ASU told Fox News in a statement.

Canceling Young Conservatives

This is not the first time there has been an outcry to restrict access to education by some left-leaning groups. It was just over a year ago that an ACLU official slammed the decision of Transylvania University in Lexington for accepting Nicholas Sandmann, the former Covington Catholic High School student who was wrongly accused by the mainstream media as being a racist for his interaction with Native American Nathan Phillips at the Lincoln Memorial in January 2019.

The media reports suggested Sandmann and other students from the school were confronting Phillips and others, however, when a loner video of the incident was released, it showed that wasn’t the case. In the end, Sandmann’s family sued multiple news outlets for defamation – most of which ended up settling.

As noted, however, Samuel Crankshaw, the staffer at the ACLU, still called Sandmann’s acceptance to the private university a “stain” and suggested Sandmann was a “provocateur in training,” who had “no intention of learning. He exists only to troll, intimidate and play victim.”

The sad part of this is that Sandmann, who had been wearing a red “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) hat, and Philips, both agreed that they were trying to defuse tensions among the three separate groups participating in various demonstrations, including Black Hebrew Israelites who were counter-protesting the Native Americans.

In a statement from Sandmann, he wrote, “Cancelled is what’s happening to people around this country who refuse to be silenced by the far left. Many are being fired, humiliated or even threatened. Often, the media is a willing participant.”

Rittenhouse’s Future

While Nicholas Sandmann has since moved on from his experience, he did suggest to Kyle Rittenhouse that the teen should also consider a legal case against the media as well as President Biden for painting him as a racist murderer. It is unclear if such a case will be filed.

There are plenty of people who seem to have Rittenhouse’s back, too.

Aging rocker Ted Nugent has said he wants to give the Illinois-teen a lifetime supply of ammunition and pledged to start a firearms training class in his name.

“This guy, this young 17-year-old kid, was exactly what the founding fathers wanted all Americans to be — to stand up, good over evil. Kyle Rittenhouse, good,” Nugent told Newsmax earlier this month. “Rioters and thugs and attackers and assaulters and career criminals, evil.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Matt Salmon, who is also a former ASU lobbyist, has urged the university to investigate this case of student harassment.

“It is completely outrageous that left-wing student groups are allowed to engage in a dangerous, ongoing harassment campaign against Kyle Rittenhouse, a fellow online ASU student, while university bureaucrats sit on their hands,” Salmon said Monday via statement. “It is time for the far-left to respect our judicial system, and it is time for administrators at ASU to stand up for the rule of law and protect their students from these thugs.”

Additionally, multiple Republican lawmakers have announced interest in having Rittenhouse as a House of Representatives intern. That has included Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Matt Gaetz of Florida, and Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina.

Some political pundits, though, have suggested such a move would be a PR stunt, and the question could be asked whether Rittenhouse is actually qualified for such a high-profile internship – a program that college students do work very hard to get into. Yet, while he may not have earned that opportunity, the fact is that he rightfully shouldn’t be robbed of the ability to obtain an education.

Clearly, the left sees it a different way and will continue to punish him for defending himself.

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms, and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.