Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said the college is setting a dangerous precedent by revoking admission to at least 10 students for offensive Facebook posts, The Boston Globe reported.
Screenshots of the postings were viewed by the newspaper and revealed the incoming freshman students mocked sexual assault, the Holocaust, minorities, suicide and child abuse.
"Punishing students academically for their political views or their personal values is a serious mistake," Dershowitz said. "These actions are not consistent with the spirit of the First Amendment."
Dershowitz, who said he had no first-hand knowledge of the postings, added: "Judging other people's humor, even in the worst taste, just strikes me as somewhat dangerous."
The Harvard Crimson said a handful of incoming students formed the Facebook group in late December.
After discovering the existence of the postings on the Facebook page, the school revoked the admission to at least 10 of the participants in April, according to the newspaper.
The school's admission office maintains a Facebook group for the class of 2021 and warns admissions can be rescinded under special circumstance, the Crimson reported.
Harvard admitted 5.2 percent of applicants to the Class of 2021, the newspaper said. It accepted 2,056 of the nearly 40,000 total applicants.
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