The University of Tennessee Health Science Center has settled in a First Amendment case involving a pharmacy student’s “sex-positive” social media post.
Kimberly Diei, a Memphis pharmacist, agreed to a $250,000 settlement after filing a lawsuit against the university in a case of free speech.
The suit was filed in 2021 by Diei and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) after the student was investigated for tweets made in 2020 on Twitter( now X) regarding the song “WAP” by rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B. FIRE also said the school received complaints about another tweet Diei made referencing a Beyoncé song.
According to FIRE, an initial investigation was launched in 2019 by the university on the grounds of “professionalism” but was eventually dropped. However, the tweets involving “WAP” lead to another investigation, where UT administrators voted to expel her.
Diei made the tweets under pseudonym “KimmyKasi,” which court documents said never identified her as a UTHSC student. Nevertheless, Diei was notified by school officials that they had received a complaint and the tweets were deemed “ a serious breach of the norms and expectations of the profession,”
UTHSC’s Professional Conduct Committee never told Diei exactly which school policies she violated nor which posts were in question, according to FIRE.
“The First Amendment robustly protects students’ rights to have a voice outside of school, even if college administrators don’t like what they have to say,” FIRE said in a statement.
Diei appealed the decision, which was then reversed after FIRE sued the school in February 2021. Three years later, a federal appeals court ruled that the tweet, which was referred to as “sexual” and “vulgar” by the administration was protected by the First Amendment.
“Kim’s posts complied with the social media sites’ policies and involved expression that the First Amendment squarely prevents public universities from investigating and punishing,” FIRE said in a statement, adding that there is nothing “unprofessional about students expressing love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media.”
“Students don’t give up their free speech rights the day they sign up for grad school,” FIRE attorney JT Morris said. “Without FIRE, UT could have derailed Kim’s whole professional career. We were proud to fight for Kim. Her win will help protect students everywhere from campus censors at public universities.”