Nick Lutz, a rising senior at the University of Central Florida, has been cleared of all charges after he was suspended over a viral tweet where he “graded” his ex-girlfriend’s apology letter and posted pictures of it to Twitter with a “D-” grade. His ex-girlfriend is not a UCF student but still reported it to the school, claiming he had cyberbullied her, according to The Washington Post. The university planned to suspend him through the fall 2017 semester on the grounds of “disorderly conduct” and “harmful behavior,” but announced Thursday that they were dismissing the case, the Miami Herald reports.
When your ex writes you an apology letter so you grade it to send it back pic.twitter.com/MczdjcCiil
— Nick Lutz (@NickLutz12) February 17, 2017
Lutz’s ex wrote him four heartfelt pages, all of which he “savagely” graded. “Long intro, short conclusion, strong hypothesis but nothing to back it up…While the gesture is appreciated, I would prefer details over statements.” he wrote. He finishes off his critique by writing “good luck” and signing his name.
After the suspension was announced, Lutz fought it, claiming it is a direct violation of his first amendment rights. Jacob Stuart, Lutz’s attorney, said he believes hat UCF has no right to call his behavior offensive or harmful. “I think the damaging thing here is how does UCF decide what’s morally harmful?” he tells the Miami Herald. “It was obvious he was making fun of her, but that’s the beauty of the constitution.” Stuart also claimed that if UCF carefully checked the social media accounts of every student, they would be forced to suspend many more people on the same grounds.
In a letter dismissing the suspension, the school wrote that “Upon review, it appears that the conduct charge on disruptive behavior was improvidently levied.”
Even though Lutz has expressed remorse for putting his ex’s apology attempt on blast, he still has the original tweet pinned to the top of his profile. His so-called savage comments on her letter might have been a bit extreme to share with all of Twitter, but they definitely weren’t mean enough to merit a suspension.