December 4, 2008
MySpace Profile Can Cost Student-Teacher Her Degree, Judge Says
A federal judge has ruled against a former student who sued Millersville University of Pennsylvania for denying her a degree in education in connection with an online photo of her drinking, The Washington Post reported.
The former student, Stacy Snyder, sued Millersville in 2007. A year before, the nearby high school where Ms. Snyder was student-teaching had barred her from its campus days before the end of her semester-long assignment. Prior evaluations had criticized her competence and professionalism in the classroom, the legal decision says, but the school’s discovery of a photograph of Ms. Snyder on MySpace — with the caption “drunken pirate” and a note alluding to her strained relationship with her supervising teacher — precipitated the decision to end her assignment.
That prevented Millersville from awarding Ms. Snyder a bachelor’s degree in education. Instead, the university reclassified some academic credits and gave her a degree in English, a decision she appealed and lost. When she sued, alleging violations of her free-speech and due-process rights, she sought the degree in education.
The judge, Paul S. Diamond of the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, had already thrown out Ms. Snyder’s due-process claims, and his decision on Wednesday dismissed her free-speech claims as well.
“She was more a teacher than a student,” the decision says. Employees’ speech is constitutionally protected if it relates to matters of public concern, which Ms. Snyder’s MySpace post about her supervising teacher did not, it says. The judge also chronicled her negative performance evaluations.
Legally, students can say more, Ms. Snyder’s lawyer, Mark Voigt, told the Post. “Because she was some sort of de facto employee,” he said, “she got fewer rights than would be afforded the average student.”
Millersville maintained that free speech was not the issue. “This was not about First Amendment rights, it was about performance, and she clearly did not do what was necessary in order to earn a degree in education,” the university’s president, Francine McNairy, told the Post.
The classification of Ms. Snyder as an employee of the high school rather than as a student at Millersville limits the case’s implications for other colleges and universities, but the opinion also refers to a recent decision against Temple University that had unsettled some higher-education lawyers. In that case, DeJohn v. Temple, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the strong free-speech rights of students. —Sara Lipka
Posted on Thursday December 4, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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This may make sense legally—I’m not a lawyer—but it doesn’t seem to pass the test of basic sanity.
— DLS Dec 4, 05:30 PM #
It makes perfectly good sense to deny her the degree she first sought… and perhaps any degree.
BUT NOT on the grounds she was an employee of the school as a student teaching intern.
There are professional conduct standards, rules for completing an intern assignments, morals clauses in college admissions an d in employment too)… but student teacher as a school district or university employee- I think NOT!!!!!
Ms. Student Teacher: Take your English degree and go on with life. Your demeanour and uncivilized conduct displayed online disqualiy you for the nobility of being a scholar-educator.
Schools and University… quit playing politics. do your job and counsel this unqualified and disturbedf young lady out of our profession.
— Professor Communication Dec 4, 06:52 PM #
Competent people do not get drunk ever in their lives and do not criticize supervisors ever in their lives. This woman violated these two common (but vile and ridiculous) rules of employ. The employment relationship is a disgusting one of fawning on moronic bosses and acting in unrealistic and unproductive ways as specified by the idiocy of the employers, his brain dead personnel staff, and the male hormones run amok of your average anglo-culture male “boss”. This woman’s violation is primarily that of growing up in a society of morons.
That colleges repeat this vile ridiculous culture of male hormones and male “sense of control” run amok, attests to the stupidity of your average college and its moronic managers—also males run amok.
— Richard Tabor Greene Dec 4, 07:00 PM #
An aspiring teacher endowed with so impressively limited intelligence as that of Ms. Snyder should not be allowed in the street where the school is, never mind the school itself. It is not really the issue of rights, freedoms, and terrible supervisors, but of the caliber and quality of those who develop brains of the next generation. Ms. Snyeder is unquestionably in need of a new profession. Sommeliere, perhaps?
— Dag von Lubitz Dec 4, 07:21 PM #
Wow. A girl has a cocktail with some friends and (most of) you descend on her like starving dogs.
Lighten up. Seriously.
— John Courte Dec 4, 07:50 PM #
This wasn’t a simple matter of a girl having cocktails with friends. Try reading the story before you oversimplify the situation.
She is certainly not a person that I would trust with the education of my children, and it has nothing to do with the fact that she had some drinks.
— Rob Dec 4, 08:56 PM #
I find it hard to believe that an individual who completed the required credits can be denied her degree. She made a mistake and posted an inappropriate photograph. And, it would take more to convince me that she was not fit to be a teacher than a few unsatisfactory reviews from her master teacher. It is not uncommon for young teachers to disagree with their older colleagues.
We pay teachers an appalling salary but hold them to the standard of a saint. However, our politicians, corporate executives, and wall street suits wheel, deal, and steal and get a slap on the hand. If we really cared about who was teaching our children maybe we would adequately fund education – enticing the very best and brightest to the profession.
At any rate, I am interested to see how many students at Millersville, who have more than enough credits but no degree, ask for a “reclassification” as well and take the university to court. To the best of my knowledge the university catalog is a contract, and I find it interesting that the university chose to play with her credits to try and make this story go away.
— J.N.S. Dec 4, 09:43 PM #
SWEET JESUS people!
Did any of you even see the original pic? She was holding a red cup. She was not upsidedown drinking from a keg or flashing his friends. A red cup. She was holding a red cup.
Her mistake was to allow anyone to see her myspace account.
And you should read the original stories so you can see that the ‘needs improvement’ performance evaluation was limited to one of her teaching mentors. Hardly a reason to deny someone a degree.
I am amazed at the self-righteousness, moralistic bs that people say on these forums.
A red cup! She was at a campus party holding a red cup. If all schools decide to deny education degrees to their education majors who drink at campus parties and then post pictures on their myspace or facebook profiles there would be no more new teachers in America. Or at least other than those coming from BYU and Liberty U -but I assume all of you would be delighted with that.
— Andrea Dec 5, 08:55 AM #
Yeah for J.N.S.!! I think furthermore, we need to worry about what this case says about workplace freedom. Would she have graduated in education if there were no photo? If so, then it is clearly about the limits of workplace criticism of the sort that causes scandals in professional life. Certain constitutional rights don’t apply on the job?!? That’s a slippery slope for the U.S. working and middle class. The idea that one cannot criticize a supervisor without losing one’s job is downright dangerous—it plays into the hands of the trance-like genuflection to executive power that has been such a major problem in the U.S., but also has implications for would-be whistle-blowers. Ms Snyder might have been a better student, but we really need to make less of party photos on facebook. Beyond that, I think Professor Communication and Richard Green are stuck in a moralizing dream world about college life and the connection between conduct and competence. The idea of the “nobility of being a scholar-educator,” is an smokescreen of aristocracy that may be downright un-american in its pretension, but certainly obscures the real issue of how long teaching will remain a viable career option for the credit soaked, debt-ridden students of today. We can never go back to the good old days, and such nostalgic rot adds nothing. Expect more Stacy Snyder’s becoming a teacher isn’t a career option not a sacrifice.
— Youngprof. Dec 5, 08:55 AM #
OK I was wrong I am sorry. The cup was Yellow.
— Andrea Dec 5, 08:57 AM #
What the hell is she doing at this point in her life having a MySpace account……when you are done with college, you should be done with MySpace……grow up for God’s sake!
— mk Dec 5, 09:20 AM #
MK she was in college when she had the myspace account.
If anything I would say, what the hell is she doing having a myspace instead of a facebook account?
— Andrea Dec 5, 09:54 AM #
Ms. Synder made a mistake for sure. But before you burn her at the stake or cast the first stone, sift through your memories of poor decisions in a time when camera-cell phones and computers weren’t around or as prevalent and consider what could have been if these items were available. I’m not giving Ms. Synder a pass but when discipline is passed with no opportunity for self-evaluation and correction, then typically nothing good comes of it.
— tridaddy Dec 5, 10:15 AM #
“…the nearby high school where Ms. Snyder was student-teaching had barred her from its campus days before the end of her semester-long assignment.” Student teaching usually includes time requirements. Since Ms. Snyder was barred from campus by the cooperating school, she probably did not meet the requirement of successfully completing student teaching. I wonder if she was offered the option of repeating student teaching at another cooperating school?
— vkw10 Dec 5, 10:42 AM #
I think “girl” is the operative word here. And we don’t need “girls” teaching our children. Teachers are, or should be, responsible adults. We don’t need loud mouthed drunks in the classroom.
— mss Dec 5, 11:43 AM #
I have worked in four different school systems. Have any of you seen what the teacher’s holiday party looks like? Can you say hypocrisy?
— intpseeker Dec 5, 12:36 PM #
The holiday parties where I work are pretty staid events, and teachers and administrators who exhibit public misconduct are generally fired.
mss
— sue Dec 5, 01:06 PM #
Competent people don’t drink ever? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Did you men that competent people don’t get drunk? I’d say even that is crossing the line. And just because someone drinks doesn’t make them a ‘loud-mouth drunk’.
Sorry Mr. Greene, I call condescending moral bullshit on your statement. There are plenty of people in the world (of all professions) who drink and lead VERY responsible lives.
Her drinking and having fun is no one else’s business… until she put online of course. But her evaluations are a different story.
My only question was that if her evaluations were THAT poor then why did they wait till they found a picture of her doing things they didn’t like to bar her from school? Keep in mind not illegal or irresponsible things (as far as this article states); going to party and getting ferschnickett isn’t irresponsible. Driving drunk or going to student teach with a massive hangover certainly is, but as far as this article details that isn’t the case.
Posting a picture up on a MySpace? Yeah, I’ll say she very irresponsible by not turning on her privacy settings. And to the other comments of ‘what the hell was that CHILD doing on MySpace in the first place?!’…
Different generations have grown to use and love different things. And I’m seeing lots of more people above the age of 30 getting on MySpace and Facebook… and oh my dear God they are enjoying themselves. Someone better fire them immediately, incompetent irresponsible people they are (SARCASM).
@ J.N.S. – Amen!
— C Dec 5, 01:12 PM #
Well, I read the trial transcripts and it looks like she should be grateful for any degree. They awarded her a degree in English but she had poor knowledge of the subject. Stop focusing on the picture people – that’s not the issue!
— JP Dec 5, 01:23 PM #
I was a student at the high school she student-taught at (Conestoga Valley High School) during the time she was there, and I feel Millersville was justified in their decision to give her an English degree instead of a teaching certificate. Drunken Pirate photo or not, sub-par evaluations are enough reason. Our public education system is struggling enough without having the very best teachers.
— SZook Dec 5, 01:54 PM #
mss: Public Misconduct? did you even bother to see the original picture in question? She was at a private party holding on to a plastic cup. That’s the public misconduct for which teachers should be fired?
This over-the-top puritanism and hypocrisy is really out of control.
JP: The Picture IS the issue. She was not denied the degree for sub-par evaluations or performance. She was denied because she was banned from the school and was not provided with another opportunity to do her student teaching somewhere else. She was banned from the school BECAUSE her photo, not because of the evaluations. Student teachers are not banned from schools because of sub-par evaluations. And Yes, I’ve been following this case closely since last year.
— Andrea Dec 5, 02:55 PM #
As someone who teaches in a teacher education program, I can say that I think that it was the right call. Not because she went to a party, and not because she decided to drink. Like others have said, if that were the lone criteria, many, many pre-service teachers would be disqualified (including me, retroactively). The issue, however, is personal and professional judgment. If, at the end of one’s education program, a student teacher does not have a strong sense of judgment that would preclude doing something as foolish as putting such photos in a public forum, I would call that lack of judgment troubling, and not the sort of person that I would like to recommend for licensure.
— education prof Dec 5, 04:05 PM #
education prof. but did you see ‘such photos’?
Here is the troubling, immoral, total lack of judgment photo:
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/?id=2029
Does putting such a picture on her website really denote a total lack of judgment? —Enough to result in denial of her education degree?
Ok I’m done defending the drunken pirate. I gotta go and drink some tequilas myself (no cams allowed)
— andrea Dec 5, 06:01 PM #
As a professor of English, I’d just like to thank the courts for making a B.A. in my discipline the booby prize in this farce.
— John Dixon Dec 6, 11:01 AM #
I smell a fat nigger bitch that is upset at the system that shes a dumb fat nigger bitch…
that good ol nigger victim mentality- it really gets you super far in life now doesn’t it??
Not.
— Niggervictim Dec 6, 11:36 AM #
Wow. I really think we need to get rid of anonymous CHE commenting.
If half these postings are any indication of the enlightened minds of “noble scholar-educators”… hand me a pirate cup, please, and fill it with rum.
— kc Dec 6, 01:23 PM #
#25 needs to get a life; uttering such vitriol and hate undermines your own credibility and adds nothing to the conversation.
— poor form Dec 7, 12:24 AM #
#25: I agree with your post. I, too, am a professor of English. It seems that whenever a public school or university needs a Department of Dumping Ground, the English departments are always the go-to folks. The practice says more about what the public thinks about English departments than it does about any of this other ‘stuff ‘ that everyone else is posting here.
— Anna Dec 7, 01:33 AM #
The judge’s ruling seems entirely sound to me. (Read the first link in this story.) It is clear that the drunken pirate photo was merely the last straw. A high school teacher should not discuss her personal life with her students as openly as Ms. Snyder did and especially not after being scolded for it on previous occasions. The problem isn’t that she put up the picture. The problem is that she both put up the picture and told her students on numerous occasions about her myspace page. Comments #14 and #19 are right on! (As to #14, I’d be shocked if they didn’t offer her another year to do over that last remaining requirement; page 17 of the judgment suggests that one of Ms. Snyder’s concerns was “timely graduation”.)
— Kevin Dec 7, 04:48 PM #