A student who previously went to the University of Tennessee received a settlement of $250,000 after her school tried to expel her over a social media post that had lyrics from Cardi B’s song “WAP.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) announced the settlement for Kimberly Diei, a former pharmacy student, on Wednesday in a lawsuit where Diei alleged the school was violating her First Amendment rights.
UT’s Health Science Center College of Pharmacy started two investigation and almost expelled Diei in 2021 for violating “professionalism” standards students agree to going into the program.
The two social media posts that put her under fire were on X, known as Twitter at the time of the incident.
One post was to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion that contained lyrics from the sexually explicit song “WAP” and called for a remix from the artists. The other post was a selfie that contained lyrics from a Beyoncé song.
“UT’s pharmacy school learned an important lesson today,” said FIRE attorney Greg Greubel. “There is nothing unprofessional about students expressing love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media. Kim has proven something FIRE has said for 25 years: 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.”
The administrators said the posts were “sexual” and “vulgar” but a federal appeals court agreed with FIRE that they were “clearly protected” by the First Amendment.
When reached for comment, UT said it is the school’s “general practice to refrain from commenting on legal matters.”
