A pharmacy graduate student has sued the University of Tennessee Health Science Center after she was expelled over her social media posts, according to The New York Times and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
Kimberly, 27, says the school violated her First Amendment rights and monitored her accounts even after expelling her. In September, the school expelled her after anonymous complaints about content on her Instagram and Twitter pages. Her lawyer filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday, even though the university had since reversed its decision.
Kimberly describes her posts as “sex positive” and aimed at empowering Black women. According to court documents, the school’s professional behavior committee cited several items, including a post suggesting lyrics for a possible remix of the Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion song “WAP.”
She said she was first asked to write a letter of reflection. The second time, she received a letter saying her conduct was “a serious breach of the norms and expectations of the profession.” She disputes the school’s claim that one of her posts identified her as a student there.
The university has pointed to its student handbook, which says staff may monitor social networking sites and that “egregious unprofessional postings could lead to disciplinary actions.” Kimberly says the handbook never explains what counts as egregious.
She told The New York Times the case made her sick to her stomach, and she says she is speaking out so future students are not targeted. She told FIRE that she can be a successful, professional pharmacist and also embrace her sexuality, and that the two are not mutually exclusive.
Greg Greubel, a staff attorney at FIRE who is representing her, said it is hard to fit old First Amendment principles into the social media era. Legal experts told The New York Times that the internet has blurred the line between school life and home life.
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Three weeks after the expulsion, the pharmacy dean overruled it, according to the reports.
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