Kimberley Diei case - what everybody has to know about their digital footprint

To Kimberley Diei, her posts on social media were nothing more than her having fun and being "Sex Positive," she claims. The student attending the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's College of Pharmacy has faced immense backlash for posting videos of herself with her cleavage exposed in homage to the rapper Cardi

B. Diei even makes some of her own lyrics to the song that were described as "vulgar" and

"crude." After two complaints about Diei's social media activity, the school demanded her expulsion.

Diei appealed the expulsion and quickly turned to a lawyer for help, but the school dean reinstated Diei soon after. "The experience was so jarring," claimed Kimberley, so jarring that on February 3rd, 2021, Diei filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court against the university, claiming the school violated her constitutional right to freedom of expression "for no legitimate pedagogical reason."

Universities generally do not scrutinize the social media of their students unless a member of their community, like a student or graduate, complains of threatening, inappropriate, or harassing language in a post, or unless it puts the university in an inappropriate light.

In Diei's case, she had two complaints: one in September of 2019 and the second in August of 2020, which led to her expulsion. The school argued she violated the university's

"Maintenance of Ethical and Professional Standards of the Health Professions" policy.

According to this policy, health science center students can be disciplined for "unprofessional and unethical conduct" both on and off-campus.

The case with Diei is still ongoing.

-By Serenity

14.08.2024