## Facts

- Craig Keefe enrolled in Central Lakes College’s public Associate Degree Nursing Program after previously completing a practical nursing program and becoming a licensed practical nurse.
- Several classmates reported that Keefe’s public Facebook posts about classmates were “threatening” and made them feel unsafe and unable to work with him in clinical settings.
- The posts included hostile and vulgar remarks (including calling a classmate a “stupid bitch”) and a reference to “giving someone a hemopneumothorax.”
- The nursing program required compliance with written professional standards, including professional conduct, professional boundaries, and avoidance of behavior unbecoming of the nursing profession; Keefe acknowledged receiving and understanding these standards.
- After administrators reviewed the complaints and posts, the college removed Keefe from the nursing program for “behavior unbecoming of the Nursing Profession” and “transgression of professional boundaries.”
- Keefe sued college officials under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment due process.
- The district court granted summary judgment to the officials, and Keefe appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a public college violates the First Amendment by removing a student from a professional nursing program based on off-campus, online Facebook posts deemed unprofessional and threatening.
2. Whether removing the student from the program violated procedural due process, given the college’s characterization of the decision as an academic dismissal grounded in professional standards.

## Decision

- The Eighth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the college officials.
- The court held there was no First Amendment violation because enforcing viewpoint-neutral professional standards in a nursing program was reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns, and the posts evidenced failure to meet those standards.
- The court held there was no due process violation because Keefe received sufficient notice and an opportunity to respond, which satisfied the requirements for an academic dismissal.

## Legal Principles

- Public institutions may enforce viewpoint-neutral professional standards within professional programs as part of the curriculum and may make academic judgments based on a student’s failure to satisfy those standards.
- Institutional regulation of program-related student expression is permissible when reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns, including maintaining a safe and functional clinical learning environment.
- Off-campus, online speech may be considered in program decisions when it is closely connected to program participation and reflects on professional fitness.
- For academic dismissals, procedural due process generally requires notice of the faculty’s concerns and an opportunity for the student to respond; a formal adversarial hearing is not required.

## Conclusion

The Eighth Circuit held that a public nursing program could remove a student for public social media posts about classmates when the decision applied viewpoint-neutral professional standards and was reasonably tied to pedagogical and clinical-safety concerns, and that the notice-and-response process provided was constitutionally sufficient for an academic dismissal.


Keefe v. Adams, 840 F.3d 523 (8th Cir. 2016)