When republicans run your college administration this happens

[Septimus Flavius Galarius]

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 her Web-published picture, which bore the caption "Drunken Pirate."

 

"I dreamed about being a teacher for a long time," said Snyder, 27, who now works as a nanny.

 

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.

 

Although Snyder apologized, she learned 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, accused Snyder of promoting underage drinking, the suit states.

 

The federal lawsuit seeks at least $75,000 in damages. Millersville spokeswoman Janet Kacskos referred questions to a state System of Higher Education spokesman, who declined comment. (YAHOO NEWS)

 

 

 

Apparently being over 21 and drinking from a mr.goodbar cup on myspace is room for a university to deny you a degree you earned, despite having excellent grades!!! By the way Millersville University is the same university that its own students protested because it refuses to put sexual orientation discrimination in its discrimination policy.

Edited April 29, 2007 by Septimus Flavius Galarius

[DecimusCaesar]

Was she kciked off for being drunk, or even worse...for being a pirate? Will they be discriminating against ninja as well? What about modern day samurai, or cowboys or vikings, will they be discriminated against?

 

What on Earth were the college administration doing on MySpace anyway?

 

Still, it makes you consider what you put up on Myspace - it's best to just set your site to private, just in case.

[Marcus Caelius]

Was she kciked off for being drunk, or even worse...for being a pirate? Will they be discriminating against ninja as well? What about modern day samurai, or cowboys or vikings, will they be discriminated against?

 

One question you haven't asked, is, "What is the rest of the story?" I'm not defending the college, but Yahoo News is not CNN, ABC or the Associated Press, and I don't always trust these organizations to get it right, either. This is the kind of story where it's all too easy to ride off madly in all directions at once, and I'm very reluctant to trust just a single source about it.

 

What on Earth were the college administration doing on MySpace anyway?

 

Your question seems to imply that you don't consider MySpace the kind of place where a college administration belongs. It's easy to construct a logical chain of questions from there that ends up, "Is MySpace the kind of place where a teacher belongs?" Looked at another way, if there's nothing wrong with MySpace, why shouldn't the college administration go there? You're going to have problems if you try to argue that it's a privacy issue, given that the photo has been broadcast to the entire planet by the student in question.

 

Still, it makes you consider what you put up on Myspace - it's best to just set your site to private, just in case.

 

No argument, there. I know one couple where the mother used the information on her ex-husband's MySpace site as ammunition in the custody dispute as evidence that his lifestyle made him an unfit father, and won. The best way to keep your private life private, is to keep it private.

 

Another thing: I'm a liberal, and I don't see the relevence of the thread's title to the issue at hand. College administrations are stereotypically conservative.

[Ursus]

She should have gone to my alma mater - Dickinson, or "Drinkinson" as it is sometimes known, where some of the admins and profs have a reputation for joining in on the drunken parties and sleeping with the students.

[Divi Filius]

*Quickly files transfer papers for Dickinson*

[Ursus]

Yeah, just be careful what you sleep with up there, DF. If you get sloshed and go to bed with a very willing girl who is also a little tipsy, but she wakes up the next day and decides it's all a mistake - you are considered a rapist.

 

That's what happens when liberals run the college administration.

[docoflove1974]

MC brought up some good points...but, look, while the campus might be conservative in their views, they have a right to them. And true, we don't know the full story; if this is truly the only reason for her not receiving certification, she might have grounds for a lawsuit. If not, well, who knows.

 

This is a topic that I talk about with my students all the time: internet identity. Employers of all types routinely check on a person--not just their backgrounds, but what they've posted on public boards. It's very common in corporate America, and more smaller businesses are doing it, too. This means that you can't post promiscuous pictures of yourself (whether your actions are legal or not) or post overly-provoking statements which can be misinterpreted, and then expect to get a job or other type of position in the corporate or academic world, particularly in a conservative environment.

 

Several years ago, when I first started my own web page, I used to vent on there--I'd write essays that were emotionally charged, and often dark in nature. If I needed to let go of something, then I'd write an essay and post it. Then there was a case in the news where an airline employee (I believe Delta, but I'm not sure) was fired for statements that she made on the Internet...and my dad and I decided that the best course of action was to remove the essays from my website, and to remove them from the server. To this day, I don't know who saw the essays, and of those who did what they thought of them...that was never my intent. But I realized that if someone read them--and never really met me--they would get a completely different impression of who I am.

 

It's the same thing that I do on here, or on my MySpace site, or anything else that I contribute to and that is posted on the Internet...I treat it like my classroom. In both arenas, I use my sense of humor, my sarcastic nature, my ideas and thoughts...but I do it in such a way that my meaning and ideas and identity aren't (generally) misconstrued. We often believe that the Internet gives us a level of anonymity...when in fact, it does not, regardless if one uses a pseudonym or not.

[Septimus Flavius Galarius]

One question you haven't asked, is, "What is the rest of the story?" I'm not defending the college, but Yahoo News is not CNN, ABC or the Associated Press, and I don't always trust these organizations to get it right, either. This is the kind of story where it's all too easy to ride off madly in all directions at once, and I'm very reluctant to trust just a single source about it.

 

Try typing in the story on google you will find about twenty sources for the story. If you don't trust ABC, CNN or the Associated Press, who do you trust Fox News and the New York Post. What do you mean "weres the rest of the story" she earned her degree the day before her graduation she was told she could not get her degree because of a photo of her drinking from a mr.goodbar cup wearing a pirate hat, colleges and university's are not the moral police and they are not your mother, you don't need to be lectured by them or have a degree you earned taken away because someone in the administration has too much time and feels that they should impose thier views of right and wong onto everyone else.

 

Your question seems to imply that you don't consider MySpace the kind of place where a college administration belongs. It's easy to construct a logical chain of questions from there that ends up, "Is MySpace the kind of place where a teacher belongs?" Looked at another way, if there's nothing wrong with MySpace, why shouldn't the college administration go there? You're going to have problems if you try to argue that it's a privacy issue, given that the photo has been broadcast to the entire planet by the student in question.

 

She wasn't a teacher she was a student, plus the university has no business telling her what she can do on her own time. If a school were she was trying to get hired to be a teacher had a problem thats one thing but the university that she attended has no right to control what you do on your own time and what you post, especially if it is someon over 21 and drinking from a mr. goodbar cup, i hope someone does an investigation of the administrators who made this decision, lets see how moral the moral police are.

 

Another thing: I'm a liberal, and I don't see the relevence of the thread's title to the issue at hand. College administrations are stereotypically conservative.

 

The relevance is republicans at a supposedly equal and nuetral university imposing their views on to everyone else. Especially in the case were the university refuses to put sexual discrimination in its discrimination policy, can you explain why they would do that unless they did that for their own personally views and not the good of the university. That seems to be a symptom of being part of the far right, imposing you views on everyone else no matter what the damage is and who it affects. The ironic thing is that most of the time they are hypocrites like Rush Limbaugh who said never trust a draft dodger and railing against drug addicts, despite him being a draft dodger and a pill junkie, Newt Gingrich who admitted having a affair during Bill Clinton's impeachment, and Ted Haggard the anti-gay evangelical preacher who had sex with a male prostitute for three years and was buying meth.