A court upheld a Minnesota student’s lawsuit against his high school for violating his constitutional rights over a two-word tweet.
Reid Sagehorn, a student at Rogers High School back in January 2014, responded to a tweet from a rumor Twitter account about the school which said that he didn’t “make out” with a teacher. Though he later claimed he was being sarcastic, Sagehorn replied with “actually yes.”
The school eventually suspended him for almost two months, and Rogers police chief Jeff Beahen said that the tweet was probably a felony, according to Ars Technica. Beahen later walked back the allegation of a felony.
Sagehorn’s lawsuit includes the Elk River School District, his former principal, and two district officials.
In allowing the lawsuit to move forward, U.S. District Judge John Tunheim dismissed the school defendants’ claims of Sagehorn’s tweet as obscene or lewd:
The tweet was sent off-campus and not during school hours, but the case highlights the complexity of free speech and social media in high schools.
The line is blurry, and high-school administrators and teachers tend to have more room to restrict speech than colleges and universities.
