Tenth Circuit Leaves Unresolved When Off-Campus Social Media Posts Can Subject Students To Discipline

Seyfarth Synopsis: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit's recent opinion in Yeasin v. Durham, No. 16-3367, 2018 WL 300553 (10th Cir. Jan. 5, 2018), addresses the "tension between some students' free-speech rights and other students' Title IX rights to receive an education absent sex discrimination in the form of sexual harassment." The Court of Appeals did not specify a test to be applied when a student's alleged First Amendment right to free speech intersects another student's alleged right to be free from harassment in a university community, but did affirm the district court's decision that a KU administrator did not violate clearly established law when she expelled Yeasin for misconduct related to an off-campus incident and tweets.

The court specifically refrained from deciding "whether Yeasin had a First Amendment right to post his tweets without being disciplined by the university." The Court's analysis in this case is of particular interest to public colleges, universities and schools who grapple with managing and balancing student First Amendment rights and the responsibility to maintain an educational environment free from harassment.

Background and Procedural History

In November, 2013, Dr. Tammara Durham, Vice Provost for Student Affairs, made a decision to expel Navid Yeasin from the University of Kansas ("KU") after her review of a hearing panel's findings of fact based on a preponderance of the evidence that Yeasin had violated KU's sexual harassment policy by engaging in conduct which included posting off-campus social media tweets making derogatory statements about his ex-girlfriend's body, but not naming her.

Yeasin proceeded to contest the expulsion in Kansas state court which concluded that the findings, adopted by Dr. Durham, "were not supported by substantial evidence" and that "KU and [Dr.] Durham erroneously interpreted the Student Code of Conduct by applying it to off-campus conduct." KU appealed, arguing that its interpretation of KU's Code of Conduct was "consistent with the obligations imposed on it under Title IX" and allowed for the University to expel Yeasin since its student code allowed for students to be punished for off-campus conduct that violates federal, state, or local law. In September 2015, that court affirmed the lower state court's findings and Yeasin subsequently re-enrolled at KU.

Thereafter, Yeasin brought suit in federal court against Dr. Durham under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 alleging...