Spotlight shines on colleges' regulation of student-athletes social media posts

In a new law journal article, Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, makes a case for why universities shouldn’t regulate student-athletes’ social media accounts and online speech.“What makes social media novel and empowering — that it is an immediate, unfiltered way to ‘speak’ with thousands of people — is also what makes it frightening to campus regulators,” LoMonte writes.

At a public institution, the First Amendment protects students' ability to express themselves free from government sanction, and the Due Process Clause protects against the removal of public benefits in an arbitrary way or without adequate notice.

Former Georgia college president found personally liable for violating student’s due process rights

A former Valdosta State University student whose due process rights were violated in his 2007 expulsion has won $50,000 in compensatory damages, according to a judgment filed Monday. A federal jury ruled in favor of Hayden Barnes on Friday, after several years of legal battle.The university’s former president, Ronald Zaccari, who expelled Barnes, was found “personally liable” for the damages, according to court records.