Stanford University accepted a Muslim teenager who responded to a college essay question by simply writing “#BlackLivesMatter” over and over.
The essay prompt asked potential applicants “What matters to you, and why?” reports The Washington Times. One student, a New Jersey high school senior named Ziad Ahmed, answered the question by writing “#BlackLivesMatter” a hundred times.
He received an acceptance letter from Stanford Friday.
“I was actually stunned when I opened the update and saw that I was admitted,” Ahmed told Mic. “I didn’t think I would get admitted to Stanford at all, but it’s quite refreshing to see that they view my unapologetic activism as an asset rather than a liability.”
I submitted this answer in my @Stanford application, & yesterday, I was admitted…#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/R5YxM77bWL
— Ziad Ahmed (@ziadtheactivist) April 1, 2017
Ahmed considers himself an ally of Black Lives Matter and told Mic he wanted to stand up for black people.
“It is our responsibility to scream that black lives matter because it is not to say that all lives do not matter, but it is to say that black lives have been attacked for so long, and that we must empower through language, perspective, and action,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed interned for former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election and attended a White House dinner during the Obama administration, where he was acknowledged by the president for his activism.
Ahmed was also accepted into Yale University and Princeton University. He still hasn’t made a decision about which college he will attend in the fall.
“My unapologetic progressivism is a central part of my identity, and I wanted that to be represented adequately in my application,” Ahmed said about his Stanford application.
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