While major Internet platforms are busy silencing Alex Jones of Infowars.com, prestigious colleges are rejecting applicants who connect on social media with him and others with opinions not considered mainstream. We are not talking about applicants who are retweeting alleged hate speech, alleged “Fake News”, or alleged hoaxes. We are talking about just following a Twitter feed of someone whose views are frowned upon by members of an admissions committee.

While one of my legal clients (a 17 year old teen) was being interviewed by one of the most competitive colleges in the country he was asked why he was following Alex Jones on Twitter. My client, a teenager expected to talk about his stellar grades, top test scores, amazing extracurricular activities and volunteer work, but the interviewer focused on who he was connecting with online. My client had never “liked” or re-tweeted any of Mr. Jones’ content. His alleged “transgression” was that he followed Mr. Jones on Twitter. That was it.

Subsequently, the student’s parents engaged me about this troubling situation. Immediately, I performed a digital background check on the admissions interviewer and found her to be a Bernie Sanders follower. Interestingly, Mr. Jones’ is not a big fan of Mr. Sanders. To each his own; however, political discrimination has no place during the college admissions process and I told the college’s admissions director that the situation must be properly resolved immediately. The college didn’t want any negative publicity about this matter so it quickly resolved the situation to my client’s satisfaction.

This example demonstrates why teens need to not just audit their digital profiles and lock down their social media accounts during the college application process, they must also ensure that their web surfing history is not collected by an admissions committee because innocent digital activity is being used to reject students from their dream colleges. A teen’s web search history may include topics such as politics, religion, health status, creed, etc. According to The New York Times, some colleges are trying to buy these data points from the organizations that provide the SAT or ACT who obtain this data directly from student test takers.

This data collection and usage is an entirely new level of social engineering that is trying to change society. For the past few years, colleges have been admitting students who are intolerant of free speech and political views they don’t share. According to The Washington Post, incoming college students are more hostile to free speech than they have been during the past 50 years. The survey that the Washington Post cites demonstrates how college admissions officials are silently shaping society based upon whom they admit.

While I am not a listener or supporter of Mr. Jones, his audience has every right to watch his videos and listen to him and connect with him online since we live in a free country. Unfortunately, some college admissions officials believe that applicants who connect with him online regardless of whether they believe Mr. Jones’ theories should not be provided an opportunity to attend the country’s most prestigious higher education institutions.

Many college admissions offices such as Harvard are encouraging anyone who has “digital dirt” (the proof is that colleges are accepting and acting upon “digital dirt” that third parties are sending into admissions committees –Do your homework David Gergen and ask Harvard why it secretly collects the personal Snapchat and Facebook accounts of applicants-I have the proof) on an applicant or accepted student to send it to the admissions department so they can reject an applicant or revoke an offer. This happens regularly and finally made international headlines last year when Harvard revoked offers to at least 10 applicants based up their digital footprint. What is more troubling is that Harvard has lobbied for years against a social media privacy law for applicants that would ban colleges in Massachusetts from being able to request applicants verify their digital accounts and activities which may indicate their political or personal opinions.

Harvard along with other prestigious colleges have a long documented history discriminating against students based on religion and other personal attributes. A recent lawsuit is claiming Harvard for years has discriminated against Asians. The evidence so far demonstrates the troubling ways Harvard uses personal non-academic information to reject applicants.

The bottom line is that if a college applicant visits websites that discuss hot button political issues such as the president, or far left or far right lawmakers, the First Amendment or Second Amendment rights, abortion, affirmative action, gay marriage, immigration, etc. its highly possible they may be denied admission to the most prestigious colleges in the United States. Why? Because an increasing number of college admissions officials are going to great lengths to collect their applicant’s personal political opinions.

This is not an isolated incident. I have dealt with multiple similar social media matters that focus on President Donald Trump’s opinions and actions along with those of other voices whose opinions about hot button issues of public concern may not be shared by a majority of the population (e.g. members of an admissions committee).

At the appropriate time, I will continue to share more of these troubling incidents so people can better protect themselves from having their lives ruined because of their personal beliefs or curiosity. My clients engage me to protect their privacy and I only shared this incident because the client gave me permission (due to the recent news) to do so as long as I was able to share the information in a manner that wouldn’t out him.