WISCONSIN, USA — Teenager Kyle Rittenhouse took the stand on Wednesday in the trial deciding whether he is innocent or guilty in the charges of killing two men during a racial injustice protest in Kenosha, Wis. last year.
Rittenhouse is facing counts of reckless, intentional and attempted homicide after he shot two men dead and wounded another.
While making his introductions on the stand, Rittenhouse told the defense that he is a college student at Arizona State University (ASU).
Does Rittenhouse go to the Arizona university? The VERIFY team looked into the claim.
QUESTION
Is Kyle Rittenhouse a student at ASU?
OUR SOURCE:
- Arizona State University
ANSWER
Yes, Rittenhouse is a non-degree-seeking ASU Online student. However, the university said that he has not gone through the admissions process nor has he been enrolled in the university's college of nursing.
WHAT WE FOUND
Rittenhouse's defense lawyer asked him on the stand whether he was currently enrolled in any further studies.
Rittenhouse answered that he was "a college student studying nursing at Arizona State University."
We reached out to ASU to confirm Rittenhouse's claim.
The university released a statement saying that Rittenhouse recently enrolled in online university classes last month. However, Rittenhouse is not enrolled in the college's nursing school and has not been admitted to the university.
"Kyle Rittenhouse has not gone through the admissions process with Arizona State University and is not enrolled in the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation," the university said. "ASU can confirm that Mr. Rittenhouse enrolled as a non-degree seeking ASU Online student for the session that started Oct. 13, 2021, which allows students access to begin taking classes as they prepare to seek admission into a degree program at the university."
This isn't the first time Rittenhouse and ASU have made a connection. A Republican student group at the university received backlash last year for raising money for the 17-year-old gunman's defense fund.
The group, College Republicans United, tweeted that Rittenhouse "does not deserve to have his entire life destroyed because of the actions of violent anarchists during a lawless riot."
College Republicans United made news in the Valley for allegedly distributing anti-Semitic flyers around the university's Tempe location. The flyers read "Who controls the world? Jews do," with a picture of a cartoon vampire printed in the background.
CRU denied making the flyers.
ASU College Republicans denounced College Republicans United as a “radical, far-right extremist group.”
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