Texas Christian University: Student Suspended for Social Media Posts
Cases
Texas Christian University
Case Overview
On May 8, 2015, Texas Christian University (TCU) suspended student Harry Vincent for commentary posted to his personal Facebook and Twitter profiles related to current events, including unrest in Baltimore and the rise of the 鈥淚slamic State.鈥 The suspension came after a non-student apparently living in Maryland created a post on her Tumblr page containing screenshots of several of Vincent鈥檚 posts, labeling them 鈥渞acist鈥 and 鈥渄isgusting,鈥 and asking readers to contact TCU to report his speech. As part of its sanctions, TCU banned Vincent from participating in any co-curricular activities on campus and utilizing any non-academic campus facilities, and it permanently banned Vincent from living in or visiting TCU鈥檚 residence halls. FIREwrote to TCU on July 29, urging it to reverse the charges and sanctions applied to Vincent for his protected extracurricular expression and expressing dismay with TCU鈥檚 violation of Vincent鈥檚 due process rights.