In a case that tested the boundaries of free speech in the digital age, Kimberly Diei, a pharmacy student at the University of Tennessee, turned a battle over social media expression into a six-figure victory.
After years of legal wrangling, Diei secured a $250,000 settlement from her university for punishing her over sexually suggestive social media posts—tweets that administrators deemed unprofessional but that a federal court ruled were protected by the First Amendment.
Diei, who tweeted under the pseudonym “KimmyKasi,” often posted about music and sexuality, embracing a candid and playful tone. In 2020, she engaged with Cardi B’s hit song WAP, jokingly proposing her own lyrics and asking to be featured on a remix.
In another post, she referenced Beyoncé’s Partition, lamenting how her hair could be ruined during an intimate moment. She also tweeted about writing a book on sex education titled ‘It Started With a D*** Suck’.
While she never mentioned the University of Tennessee or her pharmacy program, an anonymous complaint led the school’s Professional Conduct Committee to investigate.
According to Reason.com, the committee found her posts “vulgar” and “unprofessional,” and while she was initially warned, a second complaint led to her expulsion. It was only after the university’s dean intervened that she was reinstated.
Determined not to let the university dictate what she could post in her personal life, Diei partnered with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and filed a lawsuit in 2021. Her legal team argued that the University of Tennessee, as a public institution, had violated her constitutional right to free speech by punishing her for content posted outside of school.
As per The New York Times, her lawsuit cited a 2021 Supreme Court ruling in Mahanoy Area School District vs BL, which found that a Pennsylvania high school violated a student’s First Amendment rights by disciplining her over a profanity-laden Snapchat post.
The US Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit agreed with Diei, ruling in September 2023 that her speech was “clearly protected” by the Constitution. The university ultimately settled for $250,000.
The case not only affirmed Diei’s right to free expression but also underscored the limitations of university policies that attempt to police students’ personal lives. FIRE attorney Greg H Greubel stated, “There is nothing unprofessional about students expressing love of hip-hop and their sexuality on social media.”
Diei, now a practising pharmacist at Walgreens in Memphis, views her case as a crucial moment in protecting student speech rights. “I enrolled in pharmacy school to learn, not to have my taste in music and my thoughts on culture policed,” she said, according to Reason.com.
While she’s still weighing what to do with her settlement money—possibly paying off student loans or investing—one thing is certain: she plans to celebrate. “Somewhere tropical, with a piña colada in my hand,” The New York Times quoted Diei.