A former pharmacy student was recently awarded $250,000 in a settlement concerning her use of crude music lyrics.

In January, Kimberly Diei won an appeal on a federal lawsuit she filed a couple of years ago after her educational journey was threatened at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, according to People. On X, formally Twitter, she tweeted lyrics to Cardi B’s “WAP.” In its ruling, the court found that her social media activity was independent of her school life and could not be grounds for discipline.

“I got that WAP he give gwap so that he can get a lick,” she tweeted on Aug. 11, 2020, according to Complex. “He ain’t my pops but I call him DAD cuz he got that dope a** d**k @iamcardib @theestallion Let me be on the remix please.”

In 2019, the claim state’s the institution’s Health Science Center received an anonymous tip about the young woman’s posts, prompting two investigations in which officials deemed the lyrics she shared to be “crude,” “vulgar” or “sexual.” In the complaint, she was accused of violating “several professional conduct rules.” However, Diei’s posts did not mention her student status or any connection to the University of Tennessee.

After a 2019 investigation, Diei was investigated again in 2020. This time, the university’s professional conduct committee voted to expel her. In response, she appealed that decision and filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the school violated her constitutional rights by regulating her social media content. Two years later, the court dismissed her lawsuit, partly because Diei had already earned her pharmacy degree, and several of the lawsuit’s points were declared moot.

In September 2024, she pursued the appeal with the help of Attorney Greg Greubel from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression and moved forward with an appeal.

Per People, court documents show the ruling stated that “because [Diei] plausibly alleged a free speech violation, we reverse in part and remand,” indicating the case will return to a lower court for further proceedings.

“Diei requests a declaratory judgment stating that defendants unconstitutionally applied the professionalism policies against her, and that [Christa George, Chair of the College’s Professional Conduct Committee] unconstitutionally retaliated against her,” the court documents read.

The appeal also pointed out that “Diei’s speech did not identify her with the College, had no connection to her studies, and did not lead to disruption. So unless the College had a genuine educational purpose for regulating Diei’s speech, her communications fell safely within the confines of First Amendment protection.”

“This ruling confirms what I’ve known all along,” she told The Tennessean. “I have a right to express myself in my private life that’s separate from school, and so do my classmates. I enrolled in pharmacy school to learn, not to have my taste in music and my thoughts on culture policed.”

Court records obtained by People indicate that the settlement resulted in Diei receiving two separate checks—one for $180,000 would be payable to the plaintiff, and the remaining $70,000 would go to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Expression.

Cardi bLawsuitUniversity of Tennessee