Student Sues College After Being Expelled for Facebook Posts

Obsessively checking wall posts, commenting on old high school prom photos, liking statuses that have no likeable qualities and participating in a poke war (if that’s still a thing) are pretty common among Facebook users. But for those of you who think that Facebook is a free-for-all to express your unfiltered thoughts, you are sadly mistaken: A nursing student from Central Lakes College was expelled over his Facebook posts and now he’s suing.

Thirty-seven-year-old Craig Keefe was one semester away from becoming a registered nurse when officials at the two-year college deemed two of his private Facebook posts “disturbing.” Keefe claims administrators never showed him the offending posts, nor did they explain how he violated school policy. His lawyer, Jordan Kushner of Minneapolis, explains, “He really doesn't know... It's a public institution. You're entitled to due process before any type of significant action is taken against you. You deserve to know what the charges are and the chance to be heard." The suit accuses Central Lakes College of conspiring to violate Keefe’s constitutional rights to privacy, free speech and due process and seeks reinstatement in the program as well as damages. (For more on this story, click here.)

Do you think it’s fair that Keefe’s private posts were used against him? Should college officials take it upon themselves to supervise a student’s Facebook page? Let us know in the comments section.