In 2020, Kimberly Diei, a pharmacy student at the University of Tennessee, tweeted about Cardi B's sexually explicit song "WAP" under the handle KimmyKasi. Diei did not spell out "wet-ass pussy," but she did propose some additional lyrics in a post that tagged Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion (who collaborated on the song), adding, "Let me be on the remix please." In another post, Diei alluded to the Beyoncé song "Partition," joking about spending "all this time getting my hair done just for your man to fuck it up." In a third post, Diei wrote, "I'm bout to write a book about the birds and bees entitled 'it started with a dick suck'" because the "truth is that's how most of us got here."
Although Diei wrote those posts under a pseudonym and did not mention any connection to the university or its College of Pharmacy, her racy online speech prompted two administrative investigations and nearly resulted in her expulsion. With help from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Diei sued the university in federal court, arguing that the First Amendment bars state-operated schools from investigating or punishing students based on off-campus, constitutionally protected speech unrelated to their academic activities. Last September, a federal appeals court agreed, and last week Diei reached a $250,000 settlement with the university that FIRE announced today.
"UT's pharmacy school learned an important lesson today," said FIRE attorney Greg H. 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."
