The College Fix

Judge says student may return to class while her lawsuit proceeds

A South Carolina student is allowed to return to college this winter after a federal judge recently sided with her in a dispute about gun-related posts on her social media accounts.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Dawson’s order, obtained by an attorney with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, allows Leigha Lemoine to return to her cosmetology classes while her lawsuit moves forward in the court system.

Lemoine (pictured) said she was suspended from Horry-Georgetown Technical College in the fall after telling another person on Snapchat to “get blasted.”

When contacted Thursday, college spokesperson Nicole Hyman told The College Fix: “The judge’s order does not resolve the case, and the matter continues before the court. The College will not comment further at this time.”

Meanwhile, the free speech legal organization FIRE say the college’s actions are absurd.

“No reasonable reading of the ‘blasted’ comment links it either to actual violence or to an unrelated video filmed a year ago,” FIRE fellow Graham Piro wrote Tuesday on the legal organization’s website.

Initially, administrators determined the “blasted” comment was not threatening after Lemoine told them she had no intentions to harm anyone, according to her lawsuit.

However, two days later, Lemoine learned that she was suspended after college leaders found a year-old video of her firing a handgun on social media, it states.

Lemoine stated in the lawsuit that the video, which she later deleted, shows her doing target practice at a friend’s home in 2023.

The video “had no connection to the ‘blasted’ comment, but because she had not disclosed the video’s existence (why would she be required to?), the college decided to suspend her until the 2025 fall semester,” Piro wrote this week.

FIRE wrote a letter to the college in October defending Lemoine’s comments as free speech and asking administrators to drop the disciplinary actions.

However, the college “attempted to blow FIRE off,” so Lemoine sued, Piro wrote.

“FIRE understands that HGTC must take seriously genuine threats of gun violence on campus. But that does mean punishing Lemoine for one off-handed comment that the college previously admitted did not violate the student code of conduct,” he wrote.

“Even if Lemoine were referring to guns with her ‘blasted’ comment—which she denies—the post would still amount only to rhetorical hyperbole, which is protected by the First Amendment,” he wrote.

Previously, a college spokesperson told The Sun News administrators make campus safety a priority.

“This suit seeks to challenge the manner in which the College has done this,” Hyman said at the time. “While the College respects all individuals’ rights, including their rights to freedom of expression, the College’s priority is to ensure the well-being and security of the entire campus community.”

MORE: Student sues college after suspended for gun-related social media post

IMAGE: FIRE/Leigha Lemoine

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