A Pharmacist has won her legal battle against the University of Tennessee after being threatened with expulsion in 2021 over risqué social media posts and rap lyrics.
31-year-old Kimberly Diei sued the university after administrators voted to kick her out of graduate school in 2021.
On Wednesday, January 29, Diei accepted a $250,000 settlement, and it marked a long awaited win for her efforts.
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The Pharmacist claimed her First Amendment rights were violated when she was investigated twice by the university over ‘sex-positive’ social media posts after receiving anonymous complaints.
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Her first investigation was in September 2019, only a month into her graduate studies, and then again the year after, according to a Daily Mail report.
The college’s Professional Conduct Committee wanted to have her expelled, claiming her actions and voice on social media went against the school’s code of ‘professionalism.’
‘I knew what was happening was unfair,’ Diei revealed to the New York Times.
‘Personally, I never felt shame. But I did not appreciate the fact they were wanting me to feel shame.’
Diei chose not to relent and took to the dean to appeal the decision.
She then received aid from the nonprofit organization Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), to help her in dealing with the situation.
Once the university heard from FIRE, they quickly reversed their decision to expel Diei, as per a press release from the organization.
The lawsuit was officially filed against University President Randy Boyd, the Board of Trustees and Christa George, the Chair of the Professional Conduct Committee in February 2021.
‘I wasn’t about to let my university get away with silencing me or any other student for speaking our truth,’ Diei said in a statement.
‘Staying positive while fighting for my rights for years wasn’t easy, but it was necessary. We all need to speak up when someone tries to take our rights away — our voice is way too powerful to let anyone shut it down.’
In 2024, it was established by the court that Diei’s posts were ‘clearly protected’ by the First Amendment.
The school reportedly looked into the Pharmacist a second time in connection to her quoting a popular rap song.
Attorney of FIRE Greg Greubel said to ABC24 at the time: ‘She was quoting the Cardi B song “WAP,” as the song had been streamed about 93 million times the week she decided to comment on it.
‘The University of Tennessee – they went after her. They proactively tried to find her and apparently were monitoring her social media for over a year.’
Kimberly Diei now has close to 20,000 followers on Instagram and 2,000 X followers after she filed the lawsuit.
Diei emphasized that she never affiliated herself with the university and also chose not to use her real name on any of her social media platforms.
The now-pharmacist and the attorneys at FIRE have been in high spirits after Wednesday’s settlement and reflected on how it all went down and why students should stand up for their rights.
‘UT’s pharmacy school learned an important lesson today. There is nothing unprofessional about students expressing love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media’, Greubel said in a statement.
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‘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.’
