MySpace photo means no teaching degree

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 02 May 2007 12:57

Your IT - Home IT

Most people out of their teens are aware that potential employers are likely to search MySpace and other social networking sites before making hiring decisions, but it seems a student teacher in the US was denied her degree thanks to an innocuous photo she put online.

Stacy Snyder has filed a law suit against Millersville University, alleging that she was denied an almost-completed education degree when officials of the university and the school where she was doing teaching practice became aware of a photo on her MySpace page.

The photo itself was innocuous, showing Snyder drinking from a plastic cup. Apparently they were upset by the "drunken pirate" caption - the photo was taken at a Halloween event and she was wearing a skull and crossbones hat - and accused her of encouraging under-age drinking. Snyder was around 25 at the time the photo was taken.

Snyder's complaint claims that her grade point average exceeded the requirement for a teaching certificate, that she had received "outstanding" or "competent" grades in all areas during previous field (ie classroom) experiences, and that the acting Dean had described her in writing as "one of [Millersville's] finest student scholars."

Despite receiving high grades for professionalism during teaching practice in the 2006 spring semester, her final grade was "unsatisfactory." She alleges being told this was related to a specific issue, which she later learned was that an unnamed person had given the picture in question to her supervisor at the school.

This, she claims, led to the Dean of Education denying her degree and teaching certification "without notice or hearing", but as a concession offering her a BA degree which is insufficient qualification for a teacher.

The suit claims, among other things, that Millersville failed to comply with state requirements and its own codes of practice and 'due process' rules, and that there was no state or university code of practice prohibiting the posting of personal photos on private web pages.

Snyder seeks "all necessary steps to ensure the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania issues [her] an initial teaching certificate", $US75,000 damages, punitive damages, costs and "such further relief as may be just and proper under the circumstances."

Millersville has issued a brief statement denying the claims, saying Snyder's "allegations only provide a single perspective of this academic situation."

The university claims privacy restrictions prevent it making specific comment. That's a common defence when organisations don't want to talk about an issue - if you ever hear someone call a talkback radio station in attempt to get a bureaucratic problem fixed, even if the station can get a spokesperson on air, chances are they'll say "privacy regulations" prevent them from answering the questions even though it was the individual concerned that put the issue into the public arena.

"The University notes, however, that all of its educational decisions are based on a full range of academic performance issues, not solely on a student's personal website or social networking site."

While there are two sides to every case, it would appear that someone is mistaken or not telling the truth. How can a student go from being on the Dean's List in March of their final year to being deemed unfit to receive the degree in May? It looks like a jury will get to decide.