--- title: Student Suspended For Viral Girlfriend Breakup Letter description: Yes, the college student was suspended for grading his ex's apology letter and sharing it on Twitter canonical: https://time.com/4866456/student-suspended-for-grading-his-ex-girlfriends-viral-breakup-letter/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-07-20T16:39:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:45:31.886Z og:title: Student Graded His Ex's Apology Letter, Shared It on Twitter og:description: The ex claimed the viral tweet was cyberbullying og:url: https://time.com/4866456/student-suspended-for-grading-his-ex-girlfriends-viral-breakup-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt161dfd0d4b287448/6987eaf68e06013af945e1b3/525444317.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5126 og:image:height: 2883 og:image:alt: broken heart og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Student Graded His Ex's Apology Letter, Shared It on Twitter twitter:description: The ex claimed the viral tweet was cyberbullying twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt161dfd0d4b287448/6987eaf68e06013af945e1b3/525444317.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Student Suspended For Grading His Ex-Girlfriend's Apology Letter That Went Viral > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2bd4b3b0-a5f0-4dc2-963c-8ce2c62538f7&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 20, 2017 4:39 PM UTC  Studio Shot of female's hands holding broken heart Studio Shot of female's hands holding broken heart Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jul 20, 2017 4:39 PM UTC Nick Lutz did not appreciate the apology letter that his [ex-girlfriend](http://time.com/4185470/crazy-ex-girlfriend-rachel-bloom-spanx-diversity-cw/?iid=sr-link7) sent him in the wake of their break-up. Since he was a college student used to getting feedback on his work, he decided to critically assess his ex’s letter, writing his comments in red pen (naturally) and then giving it a grade. He then [shared the letter on Twitter](https://twitter.com/NickLutz12/status/832652275923312643/photo/1), where it promptly went viral with people across the world weighing in on back in February 2017\. Many commenters seemed to think it was a funny way of handling the heartbreak of a relationship breaking down. Lutz’s [ex-girlfriend](http://time.com/4575329/man-uses-cheetos-house-fire/?iid=sr-link8), though, didn’t think it was funny. In fact, she views it as cyberbullying. > [](https://twitter.com/NickLutz12/status/832652275923312643) According to the Miami [_Herald_](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article162254983.html)_,_ Lutz’s ex (she has remained anonymous) asked the local sheriff’s office for help, but she then filed a grievance with the University of Central Florida, where Lutz attends school. Lutz has now been suspended for both the summer and fall semesters of 2017 for violating the university’s code of conduct for his “disruptive conduct” and “harmful behavior”. Lutz promptly posted news of the suspension on his Facebook page as a warning to other students. The post includes some strong words for the university, as well as a letter from his attorney, who claims that his client should not be punished because he never identified the [ex-girlfriend](http://time.com/57708/man-sues-ex-girlfriend-over-stuffed-animal-obsession/?iid=sr-link3). The university [didn’t comment on this particular case,](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article162254983.html) but stated that all decisions could still be appealed. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4866456/student-suspended-for-grading-his-ex-girlfriends-viral-breakup-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4866456/student-suspended-for-grading-his-ex-girlfriends-viral-breakup-letter/"},"headline":"Student Suspended For Grading His Ex-Girlfriend's Apology Letter That Went Viral","datePublished":"2017-07-20T16:39:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:45:31.886Z","description":"The ex claimed the viral tweet was cyberbullying","url":"https://time.com/4866456/student-suspended-for-grading-his-ex-girlfriends-viral-breakup-letter/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Education","viral","cyberbullying"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt161dfd0d4b287448/6987eaf68e06013af945e1b3/525444317.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt161dfd0d4b287448/6987eaf68e06013af945e1b3/525444317.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"broken heart","caption":"broken heart","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4866456/student-suspended-for-grading-his-ex-girlfriends-viral-breakup-letter/","name":"Student Suspended For Grading His Ex-Girlfriend's Apology Letter That Went Viral"}}]}] ```