Diei v. Boyd

Overview

The Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic at Vanderbilt Law School filed an amicus brief in a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Diei v. Boyd, with the American Civil Liberties Union to advocate for robust speech protections at the collegiate level. The case involves a graduate student at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center who brought a legal challenge after she was investigated and punished for pseudonymous speech posted online, off-campus, and about matters unrelated to her school coursework or peers. Her posts, which included selfies, music, and views about sexuality, were deemed by university administrators to be crude, vulgar, and sexual, and to violate the school’s professionalism standard.

In their brief, amici argue that university administrators cannot restrict expression because they disapprove of the content or viewpoint shared. Because the U.S. Supreme Court has held that the “First Amendment guarantees wide freedom in matters of adult public discourse,” they argue that colleges and universities cannot broadly prohibit speech because it may be offensive to some readers.

Moreover, amici explain why amorphous professionalism standards that permit unfettered discretion in their enforcement do not pass constitutional muster.

“It is perilous for higher education institutions to stifle protected expression,” said Jennifer Safstrom, who directs the Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic at Vanderbilt. “If schools are permitted to punish student speech online merely for being perceived as distasteful or lewd, it would have a significant and impermissible chilling effect on expression in collegiate and professional schools.”