February 1, 2025
The lawsuit was filed after UT threatened to expel Kimberly Diei from faculty over a tweet she made containing the lyrics of Cardi B’s ‘WAP.’
Kimberly Diei, a former pharmacy scholar on the College of Tennessee, has secured a $250,000 settlement after a authorized battle that started when the college tried to expel her over a social media put up that includes the lyrics of Cardi B’s “WAP.” The lawsuit reached its conclusion on Feb. 29.
In accordance to The New York Occasions, the settlement announcement was made by the Basis for Particular person Rights and Expression (FIRE) — a professional bono group that has represented Diei by way of the lawsuit. The lawsuit filed 4 years in the past claimed that UT was violating her First Modification rights.
UT’s Well being Science Middle School of Pharmacy launched two separate investigations into Diei in 2021, which resulted in her virtually being expelled for her posts violating the “professionalism” requirements of UT college students.
The investigations had been set in movement simply two days after Diei enrolled at UT. The faculty committee’s skilled conduct committee regarded into her posts after they allegedly obtained an nameless grievance about her content material.
On the time, Diei made a number of posts on X, then often known as Twitter. One in every of her tweets included lyrics to “WAP” by Cardi B, and the opposite was a selfie of herself, which was captioned with lyrics from Beyoncé.
Whereas the UT administration said that the posts had been in violation, as they had been overly “sexual” and “vulgar,” FIRE argued that Diei’s phrases had been beneath the safety of the First Modification — a sentiment that was shared by a federal appeals courtroom on Wednesday.
With the illustration of FIRE, Diei has argued that whereas her posts had been racy, they had been additionally shot optimistic and unrelated to her identification as a pharmacy scholar at UT Tennessee.
Greg Greubel, a FIRE legal professional who labored on the settlement case, mentioned, “UT’s pharmacy faculty realized an necessary lesson right this moment. There’s nothing unprofessional about college students expressing their love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media. Kim has confirmed one thing FIRE has mentioned for 25 years: The First Modification robustly protects college students’ rights to have a voice exterior of college, even when faculty directors don’t like what they need to say.”
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