UPDATE: It turns out there is more to the story (Lancaster New Era) than when I wrote this post last night. In fact, it kind of torpedos most of the post. I hate it when that happens. You get my point though, right?
Run Up the Score! alerted me to this disturbing news (AP/Fox News):
MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — A woman denied a teaching degree on the eve of graduation because of a MySpace photo has sued the university.
Millersville University instead granted Stacy Snyder a degree in English last year after learning of the Web-published picture of her, which bore the caption “Drunken Pirate.”
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The photo, taken at a 2005 Halloween party, shows Snyder wearing a pirate hat while drinking from a plastic “Mr. Goodbar” cup. It was posted on her own MySpace site.
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Snyder did her student-teaching at Conestoga Valley High School in 2006. Conestoga Valley officials told the college they would stop accepting student-teachers from Millersville if she went unpunished, the lawsuit said.
Although Snyder apologized, she learned on May 12 — the day before graduation — that she would not be awarded an education degree or teaching certificate.
Jane S. Bray, dean of the School of Education, in a meeting that day accused Snyder of promoting underage drinking, the suit states.
There are several problems here:
While I understand the pitfalls of putting one’s private life in the public space that is the Web, I don’t think a simple photo captioned “drunken pirate” is even enough to raise an eyebrow on a background check for a federal security clearance. I suspect somebody had an axe to grind with Snyder and is abusing the system to get back at her. I hope Snyder wins and if she has a legal defense fund, I’ll gladly post it on this blog.
What an awful school district and cowardly university.
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