Student, Denied Degree For MySpace Photo, Sues

gwoodrow writes "We've all heard the 'fired because of MySpace' stories, where a simple blog or picture gets someone canned. But now one of the targets is fighting back. (The offending picture in this case was a snap from Halloween 2005 of the student in a pirate outfit drinking from a cup.)" From the article: "Teacher in training Stacy Snyder was denied her education degree on the eve of graduation when Millersville University apparently found pictures on her MySpace page 'promoting underage drinking.' As a result, the 27-year-old mother of two had her teaching certificate withheld and was granted an English degree instead. In response, Snyder has filed a Federal lawsuit against the Pennsylvania university asking for her education diploma and certificate along with $75,000 in damages."

No BS please

[Anonymous Coward]

No bullshit please, clearly she was denied her degree due to pressure from the RIAA. Dressing as a pirate and so on...

Arrr.

So what they're saying here is...

[Churla]

"It's OK for a drunken pirate to have a pretty useless degree, but we'll be damned if we're going to enable a drunken pirate to get a low paying stressful thankless job by giving them a certificate!"

Obviously ninja have infiltrated the schools administrative staff...

Obviously!

[Freaky Spook]

Students only go to uni to leech movies and music and drink underage, getting a degree is just a bonus!!!

Wow.

[geekmux]

I thought I was the only one who got hammered off those Goodbar shooters. Whew, that's a relief.

Underage hot chocolate drinking?

[El_Muerte_TDS]

Well.. that's what the cup says anyway. No sign of beer or stronger stuff. It's not even hot coffee.

The only reason I could think of to punish her is for the bad pirate costume, and the fact that the plastic cup is out of character.

It's the cup

[techmuse]

Isn't it obvious? People who are underage may only drink from clear, plastic bottles! By using a cup, she was promoting drinking from opaque liquid carrying devices.

Re:Obviously!

[Don_dumb]

Let me correct that for you: -

only students in the US go to uni to leech music and movies and drink underage, students everywhere else go to uni to drink.

Re:She was not denied her degree

[subterfuge]

If its about the pirate thing they should encourage this behaviour as the decline in pirate population is the cause of global warming...

Pete Townsend?

[kernel_pat]

I got fired from my job as a kindergarten teacher because I was a part time pete townsend impersonator.

Re:What is the problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

It wasn't that picture in particular, it was just that that picture was the only one safe for work. The others show her obviously intoxicated and doing jello-shots off the chest of a well-endowed naked black man.

Re:No BS please

[MishgoDog]

Actually, it was the Flying Spaghetti Monster [venganza.org] who saw her wearing the holy garb, and thus must give up her life of 'teaching' and preach the good word.

So, not for the first time, he noodled the School Board...

Re:umm

[maxume]

Are they not allowed to use cups?

The longer I live...

[cnelzie]

...the more I understand as to why nobody in Europe wanted those pesky Puritans around and thus kicked them all to the US.

    Sometimes, I really dislike the behavior of some of my fellow Americans.

Re:It's the cup

[MichaelSmith]

Isn't it obvious? People who are underage may only drink from clear, plastic bottles! By using a cup, she was promoting drinking from opaque liquid carrying devices.

And by being a mother of two she is promoting under age sex as well.

Don't you mean

[jonathan3003]

Arrr.IAA?

Re:She was not denied her degree

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

She was granted an English degree

But what can you do with an English degree? It she doesn't teach, the only other thing she could probably do is open a Poem Repair shop.

Re:umm

[pnewhook]

I'm sure they originally thought she was 20 in the picture, and wanted to withhold her teaching certificate for underage drinking.

Well the solution is simple. Adopt a drinking age of 17/18 like here in Canada. She definitely doesn't look 18.

Then when they found out she was 25 in the photo, they changed their story to not wanting anyone who has had alcohol touch their virgin lips to be teaching young children, rather than admitting they were wrong.

Alcohol?? Forget the alcohol. Statistically at least half of the female teachers would be performing oral sex on their husbands / boyfriends. And they are worried about alcohol on their lips?

The great minds of tomorrow

[delire]

"Class of 2005":

Carla, Brian and Phil: IP Lawyers [assblaster.free.fr]
Dental surgeons 'Be' and 'Mole' [flickr.com]
'Tone-toke': Astrophysicist [m-pi.com]
Messy Mel: Brain surgeon [pages.at]
'Liz': Senator [photobucket.com]
Wufus: Neurologist [fotologs.net]

Lighten up Millersville, sheesh

Re:Obviously!

[backwardMechanic]

Except in Germany, where it's younger.

Re:umm

[aplusjimages]

wrong. There will be a time. It's called the Extinction Period.

Re:She was not denied her degree

[loconet]

Those who can't do nor teach work as administrators at educational institutions.

Re:umm

[pipatron]

...matriarchal transfer of property

To be honest, it's not very often you hear about someone giving birth to a child without knowing who the mother is.

Re:umm

[eck011219]

Yeah. Not all photos [snopes.com] get you exiled for life, though. In the case of the photo I linked to, it's quite unfortunate.

Re:umm

[Torvaun]

You do realize that by using the words 'promiscuous lesbian' on /., you have successfully drawn the attention of everyone without getting any of them to finish the comment.

Re:umm

[Library Spoff]

What about the year 2525?

Re:umm

[one_in_a_milli0n]

There will be a time. It's called the Extinction Period.

No, it won't be called at all unless the 'roaches learn how to talk by then.

Re:She was not denied her degree

[db32]

AAAH I get it. In the picture she is a "drinking pirate" so she they assumed she was incapable of using correct english! I side with the university now.

Re:umm

[Anonymous Coward]

*cough* spelling *cough*

Re:umm

[geminidomino]

I have a picture I captioned "Lord and Master."

I've yet to receive any taxes from my serfs...

Re:umm

[Adambomb]

Don't worry, the damned dirty apes will be there to mock it.

Re:umm - throwing the BS flag

[LSanchez]

You forgot about the .00001% chance of a necrophiliac robbing your grave and raping you.

Re:Not a straw man

[Redlazer]

but don't start calling other people irrational when your pot is so black.

Hey now.

No need to bring racism into this.

-Red