Real, Strange News

Ridiculous!
Double standard. Chilling effect. These words pop to mind. We are approaching an age where privacy is an illusion. If the microscope turns to anyone you will ALWAYS find dirt.

Administrators and politicians will use our electronic footprint to build a case against anyone they want to. The public is to blame because we are the one's allowing this kind of abuse against free speech to continue while we keep our "drinking pics" on our hard drives.

What I find most ridiculous is that they gave her an English degree instead. Like what all English majors are drunks... well we may hit the bottle every now and again but at least we're not... wait wat was the question?

I hope she sues the school over this crap. My God we are 1 step from living in a Nanny State.

As a parent I have to go with the school on this one. First there are plenty of qualified students vying for teaching degrees ever year and to say otherwise is just false. And no teachers aren't supposed to appear like saints but they shouldn't advocate binge drinking either.

The school district and university did the right thing here as unforntunate as it is for this ladies life long dream. Teachers are different thant other professions. There are highert standards

You have to be an idiot to put pictures out on the internet like that, and then think that nobody is looking at them.

Whenever we interview here at work, the first thing we do after the interview is check out their myspace or facebook pages. We've turned away a lot of candidates based on some of the stuff we see there.

This is why I don't have a myspace page.

Just a followup to say that it's one thing to turn away someone from a job offer. It's another thing (and unfair) to take away their degree.

I disagree with the school here. But Mrs. Snyder hopefully learned a valuable lesson about being careful what you put on the internet...

First of all, a picture can not determine A) what she was drinking, nor B) if was even intoxicated.

How often do people label items - particularly photos - for public posting as something more humorous than the accutually event being photographed? Was she accutually drinking? Or merely came across the photo and found a title of "Drunken Pirate" more humorous than "Me as a Priate"?

And 'discouraging underage drinking' is all well and good; a noble cause indeed! But 'discouraging lawful activity because we disapprove' is censorship in its purest form, and an impingement upon her civil liberties. After all, she was 25 at the time, and the legal drinking age is 21. This is not underage drinking, thus is not encouraging it.

Very sad day for America. In Germany this would never happen. As for the Parent who thinks the University did the right thing. I hope you dont let you children watch Pirates of the Caribbean, lots of drunk pirates there.

WOW....ahhh did I just have a bad dream, or did I wake and the reality is the nightmare? Really did that picture and caption cost this lady a teaching degree? Where are the underage kids in the picture? And how does this picture promote underage drinking? I'm confused......well maybe if she was passed out on the couch and wet her pants and had half her clothes torn off...well then I'd be concerned. But to be at a party wearing a goofy pirate hat...what should the caption have been? Drunken Monkey? The people that held back the degree and the ones that agree with that need to move to China, or Cuba, or somewhere dictorian in nature. They want you, really...go.....go now.........I'll help you pack!

At the very minimum the school should refund her money. She completed all her requirements and earned the right to get her diploma.

Beyond belief that someone would be denied a degree because of a photo of them enjoying a legal activity.

Secondly to Sangamon what company do you work for? Because I wouldn't want to work for you anyway. I feel you are breaking the law by seeking out peoples myspace profiles on-line. Especially since they show peoples marital and familar status. Correct me if I am wrong but the federal goverment has a long list of don'ts for itnerview questions. Even to go as far as blocking questions that would reveal such things as age, sex, national origin, marital status etc.

You are violating peoples rights.

I really think this should be front page news. I think she should be suing for a million dollars and there is absolutely no question she should win. Having fun at a Halloween party shows a positive attitude toward life and living. Far from even being offensive it is just a happy moment captured. In a free society we all should be able should be able to enjoy life in whatever way does not violate the law. This is clearly that case. There is no other legally valid opinion that logically applies.
In this case the school administrator who denied the degree is violating this teaching students right to "life liberty and the Pursuit of happiness." This administrator is in real need of counseling, I would probably fire them if they did not apologize and accept mental help.

The only thing more ridiculous than the Millersville diploma swap would be if a group of pirates sued the school for discrimination and slander. Pirates still exist though much like native americans they don't dress in the stereotypical hollywood garb we've grown accustomed to. Instead they go around and rob unsuspecting innocents before they can reach land... not unlike what Millersville did to Snyder.

The problem with this story is that it happens thousands of times each year and almost nobody sues, because that is hard, the courts are corrupt and seldom rule justly, and the remedies available aren't worth the effort.

The law should be changed. In cases like this the FIRST thing that should happen is every single adminstrator at that college should lose their job, be permanently barred from working in education or making more than minimum wage, and should have all of their assets seized. Just like we do when we accuse someone of being a drug dealer or terrorist or pimp/madam.

Then it should be up to the administrators to go to court and prove they did the right thing if they want their jobs and money and future earning potential back.

Who are the fools that had the authorization to do this to her, and HOW OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY could they possibly be?????????? I mean seriously, this is like reading the Washington Post in Bizarro World.

This was probably decided over a couple of martinis in the local bar. What a bunch of freakin' hypocrites.

The purview of a University should be to instill in its students the required skills and knowledge to act as a professional in the students chosen area of study. Should a student fail to achieve those goals, for their own lack of study or whatever, their grades should reflect that. Outside of that arrangement, higher ed. should not tread. Only law enforcement should be allowed to go there, and not proactively, that would be fascism.
Universities do have an interest in their students behavior, and illegal behavior affecting other students, even off campus, may reasonably be considered in a disciplinary action. However, and thankfully, our system of government has the concepts of freedom, liberty and the pursuit of happiness which come before 'interests'. Universities, companies, governments, organizations, churches and groups, have no such rights. Our system is based on Human rights and freedoms. Privacy is inherent to the pursuit of happiness of the individual, and I believe that one of the wrongs done to this student, was to invade the world of her privacy, by Googleing her name with intent to use that information in their role as guarantors of academic achievement. They are not law enforcement, and they have no probable cause, and she was not read her rights (mirandized) beforehand.
It is a disturbing trend that people in power are using their power to impinge on the constitutional rights of individuals and by extension their Human rights. It is a fundamentally anti-American and anti-Christian thing to do, and which no 'ends' can justify.

Kick her out, there are enough alcoholic teachers already, we don't need anymore!

Wendy wrote:
"Teachers are different thant other professions. There are highert standards"

If that were really true, shouldn't they be paid more money?

I propose that teachers, in general, in the United States are not held to any higher standard than a regular parent is.

Intead of wasting everyone's time and this poor girl's educationla degree, why not just ask her to remove the photo or make her myspace profile private? Why is the immediate response the most extreme? This zero tolerance B.S. has taken over our educational system and ruined many lives in the process. What ever happened to talking to people and asking them not to do something before pulling the rug out from under them?

If indeed the decision to not grant Snyder a certificate/degree was made purely based on the photo of her on the internet then that really would be unjust. Despite the fact that she should be smarter than to post anything online that she wouldn't want anyone to see, it is her right to make that choice. I have read in other publications, however, that her performance as a teacher had been called "incompetant" by her supervisor, who had also stated that "she should have been removed from her student-teaching post months ago." Perhaps the issue of the drunken pirate was really secondary to the fact that she sucked as a teacher.

"...it seems like the school may have compromised its primary objective for the sake of unrealistic zero-tolerance PRINCIPALS." (emphasis mine)

I found this error amusing.

Outrageous!!

I'm sure most religious extremists and fanatics around the world will agree with the school on this one.

So, the terrorists win another round . . .

Congrats, I guess, to the school (and those in agreement with them) who would put their personal moralities and biases above the freedoms so many of us cherish (and also above common sense, in my opinion).

Hopefully Ms. Snyder's lawsuit will be effective, and score a counter-punch for those of us who do NOT want to march backwards into the Dark Ages. Go, Stacy Syder!! Win one for the Constitution and sensible, freedom-loving people everywhere!!

I urge everyone who thinks the University is nuts to contact President McNairy directly and urge her to give the lady her teaching degree and not drag this through an already overtasked court.

The President's contact info as provided by the University's own website is.... followed by the University's response to the lawsuit:

McNairy, Dr. Francine G.
University President
Marlys.Harris@millersville.edu
Office of the President
Biemesderfer Center
(717) 872-3591
(717) 872-3011 General Info

http://www.millersville.edu/announcements/snyder.php
Millersville University Statement
on Ms. Stacy Snyder Lawsuit
Millersville University denies the claims alleged in the federal complaint filed by Ms. Stacy Snyder. Although the University respects Ms. Snyder's opinion, these allegations only provide a single perspective of this academic situation.
Due to federal student privacy restrictions, the University is unable to directly respond to media accounts related to the case. 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. The University is committed to maintaining the academic integrity of its academic programs and degrees and will vigorously defend itself and the actions of its employees in legal proceedings related to the lawsuit.
Any further comment about the suit will come through the State System of Higher Education Office of Legal Counsel in Harrisburg.
Issued: April 30, 2007

"Despite the fact that she should be smarter than to post anything online that she wouldn't want anyone to see, it is her right to make that choice."

I just saw the picture. She looks neither drunk nor like a pirate, and there's nothing to suggest why anyone would think that this would be inapproprate for the net, except it being a totally unamusing photo.

P.S. Sangamon . . . Please post your company. I'd guess a lot of us would like to find out which companies that have policies like that.

I 2nd Chris. If feels like publically using My Space to deny a person a job is an invasion of privacy over and above what is necessary to asess a person's ability to work. It's almost like following an applicant home secretly to see what he's like outside and see if you think he's a fit with the company. (note craziness, stalkerish and paranoia) I admit that what may be over and above what is necessary, however, is probably open to interpretation, such as a public figure may be held under a different light than an engineer. So Sangamon what industry is ur company involved in that you need to stalk people on their My Space? What is ur company anyways, I think a lot of us would be interested in finding out.

I didn't realize that we still had Victorian Era prudes in the Education Business.

I hope they never find out the history of all of their teachers who got their degrees between 1965 and 1980. They would Swoon.

What if she played a "drunken pirate" in a play?

*ahem*... Based on the university's "standard(s)" by which they formed this decision, state departments of child services and other such child welfare agencies should also deny prospective (or current) parents their future parental rights if they have ever been suspected of imbibing alcohol. Rather than asking the question "did Clinton inhale?" they should all be asking parents -- have you ever swallowed? If the answer is yes, then the consequence should be immediate removal of children so they may be placed in a better environment free of such horridly lax role models.

HELLO... I think if this DID happen only 0.01% of parents would still have rights to raise their own children.

I urge investigative reporters to follow the teacher and the administrators who committed this atrocity around for a few days.

I'll bet that they all can be nailed to a wall.....based on the level of their own nutty standards.

oh what a world we live in! The school can assume' that this young lady was drunk based on a picture, but how many of these goodie two shoes left the graducation and got three sheets to the wind. May-be this young lady should have been demonstratiing how to put on a comdom or how to cross dress,or even smoking a joint,or even better damning the soldiers comming home from war as I was last year. Is this not what our schools are really like today!

Just another case of America's professionals stuck on stupid. I'd be less concerned about the ADULT wannabe teacher experiencing life, and more concerned with the dilusional so called educated Millersville professionals who are entrusted in handing out diplomas. The universities actions suggest to me thay are not qualified to be any judge of qualifications to certify anyone for ANY educational degrees. Someone check the credentials of those at Millersville University (term used lightly) to find out what mail-order catalog they got their education certifications from.

Has it ever been determined that it was she who posted the picture or added the caption? What she was drinking and how much is rightfully her business and not anyone else's.

Was the picture a publicity effort of HER doing to promote underage drinking? I could take a picture of any of those sanctimonious assh*les having a drink of something, put a caption on it and post it.

i am shocked by this story. not that they didn't give her the degree, but that there is a place called "Millersville University" in pennsylvania. it seems that pirates and drinking both have better reputations than that second rate dump.

whatever schools the administrators went to, their degrees should be revoked immediately for "promoting mental retardation" (no offense to the 'tards out there)

also, for the record, her costume sucks in that picture. i wouldn't have given her candy if she came to my door. she just put on a hat...weak. but i hope she wins.

can't people set their MySpace pages to private so only their friends can see them. I mean if I were an employer about to hire someone and I saw pictures of them smoking trees and wrestling naked I might think twice about it.

I'm not saying the school is right. In fact I think what they did is diplorable and possibly illegal. But if employers are going to look, its common sense to switch your page to private.

Read the school's comments carefully (posted earlier). We only are being told the story from the woman's perspective (or her lawyer's). The school says in their response: "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". Most Universitys I have dealt with bend over backwards to protect a students rights. I believe there must be significantly more to the story than is being told to us. I am sure the school gave the student an explanation in writng as to why the were witholding her teaching credential, and I would think if she waived her rights to privacy the University could support it's decision with other evidence. Don't be so quick to judge a situation until you are certain of all the facts, and have gotten both sides of the story. We are all guilty of the exactly the same thing we are actng so outraged about if we react to just one person's "sound bite" without knowing all the facts!

Unbelievable. There are photos of George and Laura Bush picking their noses at a sporting event (and in Laura's case, eating the "prize") and videos of Bush drunk at a party or flipping off a cameraman before a speech. And this woman, drinking SOME UNKNOWN LIQUID from a cup while wearing a silly hat is TOO UNPROFESSIONAL TO BE A TEACHER?!?

The mind reels...

Where did common sense go did the school think to ask her what she was doing and in the first place did they have a right to even do anything. Its time to hold these people responsible for there actions, i think not only should they be suited they should also be a question of professional judgement involved here, and i think they shoud pay the price of being suspended or fired for there actions. If you are going to punish someone for something they havn't done, then maybe you should be punished for something you did if its provided that it was poor or defective in judgement.

Thanks to Emil Steiner for bringing this scandal to my attention.

In looking around, I found a well researched and presented article at (of all places) MTV News. Check it out...

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1558467/20070501/id_0.jhtml

This is patently ridiculous. What I don't understand is how this photo could be said to encourage underage drinking, when the woman herself is not underage, and was not when the photo was taken. Just by drinking legally you somehow encourage underage drinking?

This photo sounds like a pretty standard image for a site like MySpace... I've seen more like it than I can count, and the intention is always to be silly. And who better to be versed in silliness than a teacher who works with kids?

Yes, it is a sad day when a woman, who with two children mind you, did what was necessary, according to the rules of this instituition, to earn her degree, and then gets this degree denied at the last moment, for something that has nothing to do with her contract with the institution. I repeat, she earned her degree ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES of the institution. So what if she dressed up like, as someone mentioned, a character from the Disney film, "Pirates of the Caribbean." Sadly, our children see violent images on TV whether through video games, cartoons, the news, etc...not to mention images EVERYWHERE that unfortunately promote drinking. This woman is innocent and she was impersonating a pirate; not a PC, "I am a proper, well-behaved, whitewashed, sober pirate," but a pirate (of course we don't even need to say the word "drunken" when we bring up a pirate - it's a given that a pirate is a drunk...shoot, even what's his face, Captain Sparrow - Johnny Depp - openly gets drunk as a skunk in the film) No, she dressed up like a Disney character - go figure. Go talk to Disney, not to this poor woman who did the work the institution told her to do in order to earn her degree - while also tending to her family.

This woman made an unprofessional mistake, yes. But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. They should have told her, "now that you are going out into the professional world where you will be a role model for youth, we recommend you remove that MySpace photo because, seeing as how all teachers get sued for just about anything these days, you will appear unprofessional and some might question your fitness as a teacher. Give her the degree, give her a recommendation/warning (remove the photo please...or at least change the caption), and case closed.

Oh and by the way, Millersville University, you have no right, and no right whatsoever, to accuse this woman, of "promoting underage drinking," no right, and no justification whatsoever. It was a costume party, that's all it was. But since that didn't happen here's what I recommend. First, if you don't want to remove the photo, then 'whitewash' the word 'drunken.' Secondly, go get 'em...sue on. I'm willing to guess (innocent before proven guilty of this nonsense) that this woman of two children is a decent human being dedicated to serving the public good (she's a teacher - or at least whe wants to be - for crying out loud). We all go to parties, and we all wear costumes, if only at Halloween. And if you don't ever wear a costume (I'd argue that a suit and tie is one type of costume, however drab and bland that may be) then you're boring and don't have much of an imagination. Go wear a costume...lighten up...your kid will love you for it...trust me.

It's not just potential employees that can be overlooked because of their My Space page. I didn't apply for a job, because I saw the My Space page of the person who would have been my supervisor.

There wasn't anything shocking on her page, but the fact that she even had one with somewhat revealing pictures of herself and her friends screamed immature as far as I was concerned. It wasn't how she dressed - I could care less - it was that she posted them on the Internet.

I think once you're working professionally, having a My Space page is a little childish frankly.

since when are morals an issue in getting a degree? didn't 50% of MBA candidates at some school fail the ethics test? she's not a teacher yet, right? also,wendy,doug, & big bob get your spelling right before look down your nose at teachers.

In reply to BigBobBur,

ANY mention of Snyder's MySpace profile undermined whatever supposed case they thought they had against her. And it's awfully suspicious that they waited till just prior to graduation to tell her. Leading one to believe that it was only the MySpace picture that lead to the denial of the teaching degree.

Sangamon mentioned her company's use of MySpace which others pointed out includes Marital Status and other prohibited employment information. This actually sounds like a bigger story than the Snyder case. A simple internet search for "sangamon@" brings up some interesting possibilities.

BigBobBur writes:
Read the school's comments carefully (posted earlier). We only are being told the story from the woman's perspective (or her lawyer's). The school says in their response: "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".

Except that's not what happened here (excerpt from) http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1558467/20070501/id_0.jhtml:

{The suit points out that Snyder was on the dean's list and she completed her student-teaching requirements in 2006 at a local high school, and that in a letter dated February 6, 2006, Millersville's acting dean congratulated Snyder as "one of [MU's] finest student scholars." It was one of her advisors on that job at Conestoga Valley High School who saw the MySpace picture and called Snyder at home on May 8 to tell her there was an "issue" they had to discuss, according to the lawsuit. [snip]
In a final student evaluation, Girvin gave Snyder "superior" or "competent" ratings in all areas except "professionalism," where he tagged her as "unsatisfactory." He wrote that there were "errors in judgment that relate to Pennsylvania's Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators." Girvin, however, did not give any specific examples of these alleged code violations}

So Millersville is in direct violation of their own rules on determining decisions over educational matters. It seems that she was well qualified to teach (Dean's list,"one of [MU's] finest student scholars" etc, etc) and the only thing gumming up the works is that picture that has Millersville U's panties in such a hypocritical twist. Millersville screwed the pooch on this one - expect this decision to be overturned within the week. The bad publicity from this is costing the morons at Millersville too much to continue this nonsense any longer.

Wow! What is this country coming to? You EARNED your degree by passing and fulfilling the necessary requirements, BUT we don't like this picture so we're not going to give it to you! Sounds elementary to me! Whoever made this decision should lose their position for not having enough brains to figure this out.

looks like some more of that 'freedom' we're fightin' for in eye-raq.

Can anyone delete all references to inappropriate language or behavior from, let's say, a literature course? Would anyone expect a literature teacher to turn a blind eye to anything that the bureaucracy considers inappropriate? In which case, students will soon learn where to get their real education.

Reality doesn't matter anymore. It's about *sending a message*. Let's send a message to the Puritans of all stripes.

Even if your Myspace page is set to private, there are ways for people to see its contents.

I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or reel back in horror! This story is ridiculous - tragic that it's true. I see no reason why the woman be denied her degree for "unprofessional" reasons. Heck, here in South Africa, we have problems in our education system (see http://www.SchoolReportServices.com and check out the blog link) - but I've never heard of anything so ridiculous as this story. I've always thought that American legislators, politians, and other "administrators" were a bit on the paranoid side. This story proves it! I fear the "land of the free" is becomming more and more like George Orwell's 1984. I say SUE! Such actions should not be tolerated - at least not for the reasons the school gives.

I have a bit of a theory on this that we're not seeing the entire story of what happened. I've seen some corrupt administrations and some corrupt professors who had a vendetta against a particular student, and they did everything in their power to make things go their way. This woman is probably a very hard-working individual who is unafraid of questioning authority, and they didn't like it so they found a small piece of dirt on her that would give them an excuse to justify denying her the certificate. I could be wrong, though.

Timing on this is odd. The way it was handled is odd. Someone at the university should be fired for being incompetent or deranged. Definitely setting a bad example for the students on how to conduct themselves professionally when a conflict of opinion occurs. It is all about opinion driven by an over-active imagination and abuse of power. The fact she was a single mother probably drove someone around the bend, she was setting a poor example, that was her real crime. I would never send a kid to that place for an education.

Man, how ridiculous, all because of one picture and a caption that plays off the drunken pirate stereotype we've all grown up with all our lives. Pathetic; I can see that school's enrollment dwindling in the future.

Another case of extreme moral judgment gone way too far (oxymoron, I know).

Interesting thing for me is that I am a teacher. If you have been a teacher for any period of time at all you would know they party the most. I have been to many conferences and have seen more Administrators drunk,cheating on their spouses, dancing on tables and much, much more.

I hope she wins !!!

Ludicrous! I can't believe it is happening.

True, we don't know the full story about this student, but it does sound to me like the university is back tracking. They refuse her degree based on the picture.
If the picture was not the real reason, why then bring it up?
I think the university is legally on really thin ice here, and now they are "padding" their case adding on more "reasons" to deny her, her degree.
I had no idea denying somebody their degree, if they have past all the required exams, was even lawful.
I agree with Sven from Germany. Something like this would not have happend in Denmark either.

Actually, the school she student taught at has now come out and said that the real issue was that this woman continuously invited students to go to her myspace sight where these sorts of pictures were posted. She had been warned repeatedly that she wasn't setting appropriate boundaries with her students. Think of it this way - if your kid's teacher brought in pictures from her weekend drinking party and offered to let anyone who wanted to come look at them after class, I think most of us would agree that she was not behaving professionally. Apparently she also had some comment on the sight insinuating difficulties with the teacher she was working with. Again, since she was actively encouraging students to go to her sight, making snarky comments about the regular teacher of those students is completely unprofessional. And she seemed to be well aware that she was continuing with this behavior against the counsil of the school as she commented that she didn't think they would "stoop so low" as to mess with her future livelyhood. The school had made their dissatifaction with her known, but she just didn't think they would actually follow through. (Could be the disrespect for any form of authority she was modeling so well for her students at work.)
Personally, I think she should have been offered the option of re-doing her student teaching or something, but I agree that someone who has such a poor concept of appropriate relations between students and teachers has displayed unprofessional behavior and doesn't need to be teaching kids. Take a look at all the cases of young women sleeping with students over the last few years - they all start with a teacher displaying a similar lack of appropriate boundaries with their students. Being a buddy rather than a teacher. I think the school was right to take this seriously.

I thought this was a free country. I guess I am wrong.

Millersville University should be applauded for upholding what is believes should be the professional behaviors of its graduates.

What this student in promoting herself as drunken pirate PUBLICLY shames not only herself, but the education department. I have no problem with this student drinking or any other personal affairs, but when you openly put yourself into a contest which promotes poor behavior.. how can you expect to be an educator or role model for others.

Millersville University is the oldest teaching college in the country. I am proud of the faculty and administration for holding their ground, and producing quality teaching grads

WHAT THE HECK ARE THESE UNIVERSITY PEOPLE THINKING? UNLESS THIS STUDENT TEACHER WAS GIVING OUT INVITATIONS TO HER STUDENTS TO GO TO PARTIES WITH HER, YOU MEAN SHE CAN'T BE A TEACHER BECAUSE SHE WAS DRINKING FROM A PLASTIC CUP WITH A PIRATE HAT ON? SHOW ME A COLLEGE STUDENT (NOT A 27 YEAR OLD ONE WITH 2 CHILDREN OF HER OWN, BUT A 22 YEAR OLD ABOUT TO GRADUATE, REGARDLESS OF PROGRAM OF STUDY) WHO HASN'T BEEN TO A PARTY, AND I'LL SHOW YOU...

Anyone who agrees with taking away someone's degree for a picture on myspace needs to have their head checked - Secondly there is a feature on myspace that makes your profile PRIVATE and you would have to give permission to view - I suggest ANYONE who has a Myspace profile to do so... Otherwise you might end up shoveling Crap b/c some School administrator decided your fate... Yea this seems like it should be in the ONION!!!!

My comments are simple, based on my profession. She enrolled in the school. The school provided her with a list of obligations to complete to receive a teaching degree. She completed the degree requirements. Never was there a requirement that she have "good morals" or "remain sober" or "not post pictures". The school breached their contract. The school is in trouble.

WOW, doesn't our very own President have some drunken photos and videos out there? Hmmmm what have we come to as Americans? Wake up people it's just a picture and we have all had our fun or will have it. I hope she gets her $75,000 just to show these uptight hypocrites they made a serious mistake over a picture.
THIS ISN'T IRAQ PEOPLE WE HAVE FREEDOMS HERE

Wendy wrote:
"Teachers are different thant other professions. There are highert standards"

Ha- it appears that teachers from your school weren't held to HIGHER standards as you can't even spell! People like you make me sick.

As a parent I have to go with the school on this one. First there are plenty of qualified students vying for teaching degrees ever year and to say otherwise is just false. And no teachers aren't supposed to appear like saints but they shouldn't advocate binge drinking either.

The school district and university did the right thing here as unforntunate as it is for this ladies life long dream. Teachers are different thant other professions. There are highert standards

^^^^^

Absolutely brilliant comment! Yes, a TEACHER has higher standards than a medical doctor, engineer or computer scientist. Those who can't do TEACH.

WTF, Mate!? i hate em pirate, yea. drunken fools acting a muck, sipping on rum and not giving a f8ck, floatin their boats and steering a jeer, hopin to one day sit down and cheer, as the children grow and move on though life, they ball up their fist and beat up their wife. crazy drunk pirates!

Note to self: Put myspace page on private so only people I approve can see it.

But on the taking sides note, I side with the will-be teacher. Every person has skeletons in the closet, including teachers. And a picture from the teacher in costume at a Halloween party? The closest thing to a skeleton that is are the skull and bones on her costume. This is dumb. She earned her degree, give it to her. Don't want to hire her at your school, then don't. I'd give her a job in a minute. There are much worse things than going to a Halloween party dressed as a pirate and having a beer.

The world, constitution, everthying is goin to hell. I hope she wins her lawsuit though. good luck

Wendy, your English teacher must have been drunk too! Look at your typo's!

"As a parent I have to go with the school on this one. First there are plenty of qualified students vying for teaching degrees ever year and to say otherwise is just false. And no teachers aren't supposed to appear like saints but they shouldn't advocate binge drinking either.

The school district and university did the right thing here as unforntunate as it is for this ladies life long dream. Teachers are different thant other professions. There are highert standards" posted by Wendy.

To an earlier comment by Alex on May 1st...I believe he was referring to 'zero-tolerance principals'. Not principles. So there was, in fact, no error.

I don't see why people are all upset about the photo. She should have had her degree withheld just for having a MySpace account.

http://z.about.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/4/Z/jenna_bush_drunk.jpg

No single factor does nearly as much harm to our public schools as do the public school administrators themselves. They are politicians above all else, with "educator", "leader" and even "adult" so far down on the list of priorities as to be negligible.

We will never save our schools unless something fundamental is done to change this situation.

It is my understanding that Ms. Snyder had told her students about her My Space. They logged on to see the picture. Therefore, she is passing on to middle schoolers that this kind of behavior is acceptable. That is not the age group to display the fact that drinking is ok. They did not know it was a Halloween costume.

My mother is a teacher and she has to watch her step every day if it comes to lighting a ciggeret at the local restaraunt to haveing a couple of drinks at the local pub in fear that a student former student or parent of her students will see. his day and age things are out of hand ridiculous and taken waaayyyyy out of proportion.

Nothing good ever happens when alcohol is involved. This woman belongs in prison.

Now that the media has grabbed the story, you bet the University is going to say things like "educational decisions are based on a full range of academic performance issues, not solely on a student's personal website or social networking site". They know they're in trouble, and now they have to dig up dirt to make Stacy look like a completely out-of-control drunk, etc.

Not only was Stacy cheated out of years worth of tuition and hard work (a day before graduation at that), now she'll be demonized to cover up someone else's error in judgement.

I'll wager many of the Millersville admins involved didn't even look at the photo.

In my opinion this is total crap.

Everyone can have things about them that can be interpreted different ways. Like a video clip or sound byte that only shows a small portion of something. Taking away her degree was way out of line.

hmm lets see how they like it for themselves...

if anyone has DIGG - please DIGG this site :)

acgp.blogspot.com

Let's say someone disapproves of a comment you posted on this Web site, because it has a lot typos. They assume you are unintelligent.

That person then gets your college degree revoked, and bans you from working in the city you live in. They do it because they can't tolerate people they *think* are unintelligent to have a college degree or a career.

If you agree with the school's decision, then the above should sound fair and reasonable to you.

Clearly Millersvile is part of the ongoing conspiracy to hasten global warming by reducing the number of pirates around the world. If you are unclear on the concept, there is a direct relationship between the increase in global temperatures and the global decrease in the number of pirates. Antipastafarianism at work in our schools. We are doomed.

Here's an interesting thought...if Stacy was a guy do you think the same thing would have happened? I'm not posing this rhetorically, I truly wonder if gender would have made a difference because this college is sooooo off base and out of line it's hard to form an opinion. It harkens back to the days when women had to quit teaching when they got married, because otherwise you might be, (God forbid) promoting those heinous values of love, committment, and sex within a marriage. Good luck Stacy, this California teacher stands behind you!!

You can already smell the PR stench from the university. Starting with the "student privacy laws blah blah blah" to the always-veiled references to "other problems" and "only one side being heard" you just *know* they've got a PR firm on notice and are churning out the FUD.

Here's the bottom line from this teacher (thankfully not in the purityrannical [sic] USA!): if it comes down to a battle of administration vs. teacher or administration vs. student? I side against the administration. This gives me about a 98% chance of being in the right with little to no effort required.

This utterly disgusts me. I sincerely hope it motivates someone in the student body of Millersvile (sic) University to do an in-depth investigation and expose of each and every member of that school's senior administration until they screech "Uncle!" at the top of their lungs. School administrators have more skeletons in their closets than Halloween decoration outfits....

This is typical of the sanctimonious horse poo spewing from the faculty of many central Pennsylvania universities. They are living an unrealistic Puritanical existance and building a bridge to the 17th century.

A previous poster said: "Correct me if I am wrong but the federal goverment has a long list of don'ts for itnerview questions. Even to go as far as blocking questions that would reveal such things as age, sex, national origin, marital status etc."

But if the candidate walks in without being asked and volunteers all of this stuff (or makes it publicly available), it's fair game. You can say it's not right to look at MySpace pages, but if she took out an ad in the newspaper with this picture, what then? That she has (according to a previous post) repeatedly invited students to visit the page (and also said unprofessional stuff about other teachers there as well) would seem to make her position a great deal less defendable. Unprofessional behavior is grounds to deny teaching licensure (imho she should've gotten a degree in general education with no license - I don't get the English degree thing either). As I've often reminded my university students - putting stuff on MySpace and then complaining because somebody looks at it and forms an opinion of you (and then acts on it when they have to decide something about you) is like standing at the intersection of two major highways wearing only an open trenchcoat and saying "I only meant for the fifth car that went by to see me".

Free speech is protected from GOVERNMENT interference. The university in this question is a private institution, and as such can determine what the rules for getting its degree are.

The bigger issue here is her pro-pirate behavior. Is this really what we want to be teaching our young adults? Plundering and Pillaging? Disgusting! Not too mention her disregard for pirate civil rights. Implying that pirates are drunks. This is not the type of person I want walking the Earth, never mind teaching children.

Welcome to the free America. If this adult woman student had been holding a gun in the photo, there would never have been an issue.

In our town, we had (until a year ago when he smashed his car), what everyone knew to be a drunken pirate of a Principal. Everyone knew he was drunk, they said you could smell it on him, and everyone, including the school board. Years laters, he was elected to that board, still drunk most of the day.

If anything, based on this information, I could suggest two things for this young aspiring teacher.

1. Get a degree in WV
2. Teach in Mason County

rebeccat - you say the school has said more about her behavior. How about citing a source for the accusations you're referring to, or is this just another Internet rumor?

Squeegy --

"It is my understanding that Ms. Snyder had told her students about her My Space. They logged on to see the picture. Therefore, she is passing on to middle schoolers that this kind of behavior is acceptable. That is not the age group to display the fact that drinking is ok. They did not know it was a Halloween costume."

I don't know about the kids you know, but my daughter was not so retarded she couldn't tell a $1 toy hat was not real clothing. She also knew that adults drank alcohol and she wasn't allowed. This at the age of 4 or 5, so in school, she was well past that.

To Wendy, Comment #4
"There are highert standards"

[sarcasm begin]
We demand bettar Teachers! Highert Standards, Lowert Pay!
[sarcasm end]

Zero-Tolerance policies work exactly 0% of the time. They are nothing but a "clever" way for administrators to avoid making tough decisions and taking responsibility for them.

I believe things like that will get much worse before they get better. It's unfortunate that a great country like the US is slowly being destroyed from the inside, by its very people.

Never mind - found the pdf of the school's statement as mentioned elsewhere in this discussion.

Having been hit by a drunk driver when I was twelve, I have always been a supporter of reasonable laws to discourage reckless behaviour. But, schools are not a legal enforcment agency. This illustrates how poorly school administrators understand the legal system. If they had turned this over to the police, the police would have laughed at the administrators. The school should loose this case.

Teachers are not gods, the ones who think they are often are the worst teachers, lets hire people who still have a sense of human perspective and sense of humor enough to be a drunken pirate, I bet they'd be more willing to listen to the kids and learn new information when it comes available.

As a rebuttal to Wendy's comments, siding with the school, I don't see the argument here. She's quote-unquote "advocating" binge drinking??? We don't even know what she's drinking in the pic! Heck, the cup could be filled with nothing but air for crying out loud! And she's not ADVOCATING ANYTHING! It's just a pic. ad-vo-cate, verb: to plead in favor of. Uh, nope, sorry, a personal pic on a myspace page doesn't qualify as advocating. And as for the "Drunken Pirate" caption, WHAT OTHER KIND OF PIRATE IS THERE?!?!?! That's what pirates do! They drink! And plunder! And then drink some more! Maybe she should have dressed up as "Stacy The Non-Drunken Milk-And-Cookies-Drinking-And-Eating Pirate". wow, that has a nice ring to it, dontcha think? good grief.

And as for the other person who posted about job interviewees that "the first thing we do after the interview is check out their myspace or facebook pages", um, why? Why on earth is that appropriate? To me that's the equivalent of saying "bring a personal photo album along to your interview", we're going to scour it for potential character deficiencies. Or why not just get a search warrant for their house.

This individual did NOTHING WRONG. Period. Well, wait, I take that back. About the only thing that she did wrong was to assume that we still live in "the land of the free"...

How many of you have seen the spell checking software functioning in this dialog box? Why not use it?

Her private time should be hers. A photo like that does not admit any criminal act. Her grades and skills should be the measure of her achievement, not a photo in fun.

Oh, for all of you under about 40 years old I can truly say that the nanny society arrived in your youth.

I don't see the drunken part of the image. I see a cup and a pirate hate on Halloween. I dressed with a pirate bandanna at Disney with my 3 year old nephew. I had a similarly plastic cup. I drank Apple Juice, and lots of water.

I sat at home alone on Halloween. Sniff.

Anyway, my guess is that this will be settled quietly. Ms. Snyder will receive her degree and certificate, and a small amount of money for her trouble, and no admission of guilt or wrongdoing will be made by the university.

Instead of seeing this picture as "promoting underage drinking", the university administrator might want to ask her what it is like to have a life.

The global warming comment was funny though.

While this might seem like an isolated case , it is a perfect example of the kind of mentality that is prevalent thanks to years of brainwashing. Our country was started when a bunch of fundamentalist lunatics came to this continent and throughout the centuries, that strain has stayed with us.

Maybe extremism is part of our DNA because our laws and behaviors sure are a reflection of this.

Our drinking age is higher than most countries in the world yet our youth drinking problems are through the roof we are told.
Germans are much heavier drinkers (young kids drinking non-alcoholic beer is normal) with much heavier alcohol contents yet dont have this problems. They also have no limits on the autobahn and their roads arent as dangerous. Why?

And of course, if you live in italy and france, wine at lunch/dinner is a family affair with children from an early age learning and being prepared for the dangers of it.
Most parents in those countries would be in jail had they lived here.

And if we look at marijuana (for which we can proudly call ourselves talibans since they have our vision....and our tax money to fight drugs!), we have to ask ourselves how come Holland's youth consume TWICE less than ours? Shouldnt our method yield better results considering our hysterical approach and considering that you can find marijuana there in cafes just like you would a double latte here?

Our problem isnt a genetic one but one of lack of preparation. We believe that if we just say NO that alcohol problems will go away. Instead of teaching, we believe that forbidding even the mention of alcohol will solve our problem.

Hasnt worked so far, so of course were not only going to continue on this path but be even firmer.
Maybe like our taliban counterparts we could start chopping body parts in hope that it will have an effect.
Why not? That is the path we are on.

The unsuccessful path might I add.

Rob

I can not find words to describe my utter disbelief at reading this. I assume the reasoning goes like this:
A teacher is an example to underage children. Everything a teacher does is promoting/teaching that the children should do it.

As a consequence, I assume a teacher will now also be sued for promoting underage sex because he/she has a child (because he/she engaged in the act of sex and thus, being a teacher, promotes sex to underage children)?

If I were in charge, I would fire every last faculty member involved in withholding this woman's degree. This is why I am not in charge.

She's 25 years old! She should be suing for defamation of character both the school district and the University. Good for her, she's won the lottery!

In response to Wendy (May 1, 2007 01:34 PM), I, too, am a parent, but I don't see how this photo advocated "bing drinking". The student, who is of legal drinking age, appears in a photo where there is no identifiable alchohol. She was punished for the caption "Drunken Pirate." Free speech on a site of personal expression must be unconscionable and unconstitutional in your book. Have you never had a good but goofy photo that you titled with something absurd? Also, look at the student's reaction: she took the photo down immediately after being informed that it was inappropriate. She did nothing inappropriate. I teach college courses part time on a campus that contractually requires faculty to forego alcohol consumption. God forbid they find a picture of me chugging my home-brewed iced tea out of a quart glass mug. I might find myself out of a job. What if some family caught this young adult at a pizza place having a cocktail with her dinner? Should we disqualify teachers then, too? I think a large percentage of our educators would be unemployed within a week. Had she gotten a D.U.I. citation, or a drunk and disorderly charge, then I might agree with the university, but this is senseless knee-jerk reactionism that is baseless in every way.

Put her away for life. Throw away the key.
She must be the daughter of Satan.

I think the time has come to move out of this country. I no longer belong here, and I'm sure plenty of others feel the same way. Too bad it's so difficult finding a job overseas. I guess I'm stuck in the looney bin for now.

Just another instance of the American-Taliban at work - maybe we should look in our own backyard before we start wagging our fingers at radical Islam?

You are still reading comments? Good GOD man! Go outside or something...

at least she was showing school spirit.
millersville is the home of the marauders

This is retarded she is 27 and she isn't a teacher yet.

I could understand if it was a photo of her attending a college party and buying for underage students but what heck man??

I'm glad im in a research job and exempt from such sh*t.

I am truly shocked at this. Whether or not she is competent as a teacher is irrelevant at this point... Whether or not what she was doing in the picture was legal or not is also not an issue... The fact that the picture was ever an issue is.

The university had no right to use this picture in their decision to grant her degree in any way. In fact they have no right to deny someone their educational degree for anything done outside of the educational arena. If she successfully completed all her educational requirements, then she has earned her degree... period.

It would be up to the schools/districts where she applies for work to do a background search to decide of she qualifies or not (and this is standard practice whenever someone is working with children). This is not now, or ever has been, the responsibility of the institution where the person earned their degree.

I stress EARNED... since that is a key word... they did all the work necessary, so they have earned the right to their diploma. Just as you earn the right to your paycheck every day... or perhaps it should be alright for your employer to dock your pay, or fire you, simply because you posted a picture of yourself having a glass of wine?

To Wendy, the person above that supported the university, and all those that share her sentiments. I ask this of you... have you ever had a glass of wine, or any other alcoholic beverage, in front of your children? If yes, then by your own standards, you too have supported underage drinking. Even worse, you are likely a much stronger role model for your kids than this teacher will ever be. So shame on you for imposing a double standard on someone else, for you are your child's ultimate teacher.

Bravo Rob, BRAVO!!!!

This seems to be another case of old systems not working anymore. It used to be that we could all pretend we were saints and virgins and pictures that we shared with friends were only seen by our friends. In that world, if kids found her picture I could see how they might believe it a hinderance on her career. Now, thanks to the internet, this has all changed. Kids have access to pictures and video of the President of the United States of America dressed as himself getting drunk. I've seen it, he looks like a lot of people I have seen who get drunk except he talks politics.

Someone also mentioned that we should hold teachers or prospective teachers to higher standards. That is true, in many areas mostly related to their career. But we also have to be mindful that we don't pay teachers half of what they are worth considering they take care of and educate our most prized posessions. So if we are going to hold them to standards, we need to hold ourselves up to standards as well and pay them what they are worth.

At first I was pretty pissed - but reading the comments I'm wondering if there was more to this story.

If the teacher was giving out her myspace page to students and inviting them there, then, yeah, that was pretty stupid. She needs to have her certificate pulled for just being a dumbass in general.

The real concern here is that we have pushed "Political Correctness" too far! Where as an example if a person says, "black." We have black rap artists using the word "n*gger", but it is all right for them to use it because they are black. I prefer to use the word in the original context, come red, white, yellow, green, or otherwise. "As lazy, do nothing, nair do well, sloughing person." Now as you can see in the original context, it does not mention race, color or creed of the person. The word "Hillbilly", today it means someone from the south. But, the original context was to denote someone born and raised in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Porcupine Mountain region. What am I getting at? We can all label someone something and it still be inaccurate. Labels are just that labels, but put the wrong label on someone when it is not true and it can affect the person rest their whole life.

Has this administrator ever gotten drunk or wigged out with drugs? Bet ya he/she has. Second how did the administers know she was truly drunk. How did they not know that she was holding a cup full of Ginger Ale? People do go to drinking parties and suck on fruit juice all day. Without having been there the administrators were making a judgment call. They assumed, by the way how many remember "The Benny Hill" show? He used to do a skit that had a Professor at a Chalkboard (political correct, we won't use "Blackboard" for fear of offending) giving a lecture on the word "ASSUME". "When the word "ASSUME" is used it makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME"!"

These short minded puritan administers should be dealt with and dealt with severely. they should strung up by the heels and left to dry in the wind.

I am sickened by this article because of the fascism and ridiculousness of the university. This is the kind of article you'd expect to see on theonion.com, not a real newspaper website.

First of all, how do they know the picture wasn't a joke? Did they administer a breathalizer test to her at that party that evening? Of course not. Anyone see Pirates of the Caribbean? The pirates get drunk. If she looked funny in the picture or thought it would be funny to write that caption based on her costume, what's wrong with that? Her cup said Mr. Goodbar, not "I'm so drunk!".

Second of all, how does this promote underage drinking? How illogical is it to assume that just because one drinks, they promote minors to do so?

Third of all, even if she was drunk at said party and even if they had evidence to prove so (a breathalizer test), that does not mean she is an alcoholic. It is not uncommon for young people nowadays, especially at Halloween parties, to get a little tipsy. That does not mean that they are alcoholics or that they binge drink. Furthermore, that picture was from 2005. How are they to know what her drinking habits are now, two years later?

If anything the university should be embarassed because they have proven themselves to be illogical morons. They obviously aren't intelligent enough to use deductive reasoning. Not only that, but they use their resources to invade the private lives of those attending?

I hope she takes them for all they've got in court.

ACLU should take this case and run with it.

Photo was of her in a costume at a HALLOWEEN party. Anyone who thinks a Halloween costume represents advocacy of anything needs to be institutionalized for having effective dementia and an IQ of less than 50.

The administration at Millersville University is clearly incompetent and needs to have their teaching credentials revoked, and the university itself needs to have all accreditations also revoked.

just another item on my list of reasons why I'm losing faith in society

parents out there if you think you will protect your children from alcohol you are foolish, and stupid they will always find it if they want it. the school has as much a right to take her degree away from her as take possession of her house that degree was hers the moment she completed her courses she should recieve her degree as well as full tuition reimbursement for eing this stupid

"As a parent I have to go with the school on this one. First there are plenty of qualified students vying for teaching degrees ever year and to say otherwise is just false. And no teachers aren't supposed to appear like saints but they shouldn't advocate binge drinking either.

The school district and university did the right thing here as unforntunate as it is for this ladies life long dream. Teachers are different thant other professions. There are highert standards."

That's the most retarded comment I have ever read.

From information gathered at after reading other sources on this issue, it seems that Ms Snyder's issue stems from one of her advisers at the school where she did her student teaching that found the photo and reported it up to her student adviser at Millersville. The adviser at Conestoga Valley High School (where Stacey had apparently been described as "one of Millersville's finest graduates") called Stacey to tell her that there was an "issue" with the picture and Stacey's adviser at Millersville told her that her certificate "might lose her teaching certificate" over the issue.

Millersville's mascot is a pirate. In modern pop culture, the "drunken pirate" is ubiquitous. Stacey's wearing of a pirate hat is not unexpected, due to her being a student at school where the mascot is, in fact, a pirate. Stacey is drinking from an opaque plastic cup. If she was similarly dressed, drinking from the same cup, with the same caption, and the picture would have been of her DRIVING A SCHOOL BUS, then MAYBE there might be some validity to this knee-jerk reaction. Otherwise it's much ado about nothing.

I hope she sues these pretentious prigs into bankruptcy and expands her damage claim to include personally. the Dean of students at Millersville, her student adviser, J. Barry Girvin, and the adviser at Conestoga Valley High School. Further, if a single person in her graduating class accepts a degree from this so-called institution of higher learning then they are the worst kind of hypocrite, by demonstrating they actually know nothing of right and wrong and are too weak to make a stand based on conviction and reason.

i better take my pix of a drunken party jack russel terrier off myspace before i get arrested for animal cruetly by some ridiculous crazy person who thinks that this means i abuse dogs...

anywayz, it makes no sense... i've never heard of an accredited university making alcoholic abstinance a prerequisite for an academic degree...

... but really, if someone can get a degree from yale as an alcoholic coke head who barely made Cs and now "runs" the country... then who cares about a caption that indicates nothing substantial about the picture...

When will today's young adults figure out that the world is NOT "MY SPACE" and that the choices one makes dictate the life he/she leads? Today is the day for prospective college students, scholarship recipients, and employees to close their middle-school "Myspace" and "Facebook" accounts and become adults.

It was Halloween? Hence a costume of a 'drunken pirate'... does acting as a character imply that they are drunk. By that logic Johhny Depp acting as Jack Sparrow would also be intoxicated. How can these studios allow people work while drunk?

Having been to Italy I can honestly say they have a much better grip on the alcohol bit. Our trouble is we PROMOTE it as a drug although there are others more potent and popular. We call it the "forbidden" fruit here. Look what happened during the prohibition. Nobody stopped drinking alcohol, people just made more off it and more violence to boot. In Italy, wine, for example, is a FOOD not a drug. You see far less alcohol abuse there than here. Gee, wonder why? The other thing is we delude ourselves into believing not educating people on certain things like sex and alcohol will improve certain social problems. Hello...the jury is in. Doesn't work. What does work is EDUCATING people on what it is. Not denying it exists or keeping people in ignorance.

As for a sign saying "Druken Pirate"..she'll probably win this case since its unclear that she was even drinking alcohol. But seriously folks, no experience or exposure is the best way to create trouble. I don't drink much if at all. Basically wine with certain food choices. Never been drunk and my parents encouraged me to understand and experience alcohol (partially so I would know when to say "when"). Its served on many religious holidays in any case. If there was a dangerous or illegal drug being promoted here I'd agree with the decision. But if you are going to deny education degrees for this, than parents who drink ANYWHERE near their children should have their kids taken by social services under this kind of logic. Think about it, and then EDUCATE your kids on the things that go on around them because they WILL learn about it. Either from you or somebody else and the first person they learn from will get first dibs on how it affects their decisions.

To oldartificer

Maybe you should have the phone taken from your house. You know there's these 900 numbers where they talk about... Anyway if you have one of these new-fangled phones in your house then you must by your logic be indulging in that particular vice. Then theres these things called books and they're an awful lot like magazine and there's these magazines that...

MySpace, Facebook, what ever...just another means of communication. If a fantastic employee happens to be a Civil War re-enactor, does that mean he or she is unsuitable to work with you at the Luddite Institute For Human Advancement?

Referring to Wendy's comment up at the top...
Have you even seen the photo? If she was downing a bottle of bourbon I would agree with you here, but she simply has a cup in her hand and appears to have no signs of complete intoxication. To try and shield your children from the "dangers" of the world is the absolute wrong way to go about this. I also agree that it should be left up to the employer whether or not myspace photos should be considered. The school has no right in taking away her degree. I hope she wins the lawsuit she has against them and we hear a public apology by the school.

This woman owes us all a public appology for using her alcoholism as the springboard to milk out national sympathy. She is a lush who should be kept as far away as possible from children.
God Bless the school and those who support keeping standards of decency in our country!

Read the K-12 side of the story:

http://www.cvsd.k12.pa.us/DS/tempNews/snyderLawsuit05_07.pdf

Some comments after reading this:

1. The picture posted by the Smoking Gun and other sites is _not_ the pirate picture that caused the problems. See http://bbsnews.net/images/stacy_snyder_2005.jpg
for the real picture. (This particular picture does NOT prove she was drunk. People take stupid pictures all the time...)

2. Snyder was warned several times during her teaching about getting too involved with students. Specifically, Michole Reinking express to Ms. Snyder throughout the semester was the importance of maintaining a professional working relationship with students and not to become overly familiar with them regarding her personal life. Her response to Ms. Reinking's advice was

"...I don't think that they would stoop that low as to mess with my future...."

3. Ms. Snyder ACKNOWLEDGED the nature of her problems as a student teacher in an apology she sent to Ms. Reinking and others on May 10, 2006. Ms. Snyder admitted "This incident has caused me to open my eyes and realized that I am the only person to blame. I have to take full responsibility for my actions and live with the consequences...."

Sounds to me that this student teacher needs to re-read what she wrote in her apology above. HER actions caused the following actions to happen.

-- stj

I seem to recall a story about a Teacher that had been in an adult film prior to her employment as a educator. If my memory serves me correctly, she was able to retain her job after it was discovered, even though it was a lengthy lawsuit. It should be noted that I am in no way condemning this other person for what she did prior to her teaching career; I am just using this as an example. Keep in mind that this person actually shot this video, and the video is still accessible, yet she was able to keep her job. This is obviously so much better than having a drunken pirate sign posted on my space. I think some people just have the need to persecute. That is all.

"Free speech is protected from GOVERNMENT interference. The university in this question is a private institution, and as such can determine what the rules for getting its degree are."

Wrong. Millersville is a public university.

Looking at the picture, I do see clear evidence of intoxication: whoever painted the wall behind her was obviously drunk, or blind, or blind drunk.

There is no indication that the plastic cup contains an intoxicating liquid. Even the logo on the cup does not promote an alcoholic beverage. It promotes a chocolate bar.

If she should be chastised for anything, it should be for promoting childhood obesity. How dare she advocate the consumption of chocolate on Halloween? That is just incredibly irresponsible.

Of course, she could also be advocating something a bit more sinister, considering the chocolate bar in question is "Mr. Goodbar" http://imdb.com/title/tt0076327/

Wow - if "Jumping to Conclusions" were an Olympic Sport, Washington Post readers would be swimming in gold medals.

I see a lot of posts demonizing the university, when it looks like the following happened:

1) Snyder gets booted from a student-teacher internship for what sounds like more than just a photo on mySpace:

From http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/203603
"Snyder required 'significant remediation' as a teacher, and her evaluation reflected serious performance problems," Kelin said.

2) By getting booted, she fails to complete a Millersville University requirement for graduation with a teaching degree.

What we don't know is:

1) What was her academic record like at Millersville? Could the incomplete internship just be "the last straw" for the MU teaching dept?

2) Could she go back and re-complete her internship (and graduate later), and she just decided that suing is easier than teaching?

Point is, we don't know, and most of the posts above jump to the obvious (?!?) conclusion that the university is somehow squelching Snyder's "right to free speech," and that this is a huge injustice.

C'mon, people. Do a little looking around for facts before posting ignorant comments. (Not that the WaPo article helped at all.)

The party or parties who made the decision to deny this woman the degrees that she rightfully earned should be removed from the gene pool. At the very least, the person(s) responsible should be fired. The individuals involved clearly do not wield the judgment mandated by their jobs.

The other article/letter certainly changes the tone of the situation...

However the fact remains the same... if she completed her requirements, then she is entitled to her degree. If she failed to complete her requirements, because she was fired, then yes she is not entitled to her degree, at this time. As there is a work requirement, she should still be allowed to complete her requirements in order to get her degree.

I do find the universities timing on the decision a bit poor, they should have given notice, and provided her with options on how to complete her requirements.

The school board, where she worked, may be in hot water, unless they can prove that she actively encouraged students to view her profile. Simply putting up the page is not an act of encouragement. Even then there is nothing illegal about the page, though perhaps professionally questionable. It in no way promotes, or encourages, underage drinking. So if that was their basis for dismissal, they do indeed have a fight on their hands.

@ Baboo:

Perhaps you should have read the entire thread before you decided to bless us with *your* ignorant conclusions. She was on the deans list and her last review was favorable. As to whether she could retake any portion of her education and still graduate, that is patently ridiculous. She *already* done it once. Why should she have to do it again because the administrators are prudish, conservative and disconnected with reality?

I just sit here in England amazed at how unbelievably inane this is.
I was taught America was the land of the free but quite frankly you're all tied to the government more than
the Russians were in the cold war era.
I'm sorry but you just had Virgina Tech and these people are worried about a young intelligent lady seen enjoying herself.
Maybe she should buy a hair shirt for a penance

I love the people who come out against her without reading the facts, she's drinking milk chocolate.

I won't try to argue why she deserves her full degree against such people, because if you argue with an idiot, they drag you down to there level and beat you with there own logic.

If the school assumes that she is drinking because of the caption, wouldn't that mean that the school would have to assume that she is a real pirate? So I guess it's ok to be a pirate school teacher as long as you don't drink...

@ Aaron

No, she didn't already "done it once." It was her student teaching gig at Conestoga that got her the boot.

If you look at the Millersville U site, I'm guessing that what she claims as having "completed" her requirements was that she had completed the academic stuff.

So, anyways, here's from the Millersville Guide to Student Teaching:

"Professional Conduct: The Student Teacher is a guest of the cooperating school. As a future member of the teaching profession, the Student Teacher needs to maintain the same professional standards expected of the teaching employees of the cooperating school. The Student Teacher is recognized as a representative of the University by the students, faculty, and community to which he/she is assigned."

Also, one of the requirements for getting certified:
"3. Satisfactorily complete student teaching."

And the zinger:
"The PDE 430 assessment instrument must be used a minimum of two times. A satisfactory rating (1) in each of the 4 categories, resulting in a minimum total of at least (4) points, must be achieved on the final summative rating to favorably complete the overall assessment. Note that all categories must have achieved at least a satisfactory rating in all cases."

So, if she was rated as non-satisfactory in professionalism, then she didn't successfully complete the student-teaching internship.

Now, it seems that there are at least 2 stories out there - hers, that unsurprisingly claims that everything was great and she completed everything, and the story from other news outlets (not WaPo or MTV) that state she didn't complete everything, that she wasn't an exemplary student, and that she even wrote a profusely apologetic letter to Conestoga HS.

Your problem is that you're trying to claim that an innocent, exceptional teacher was denied her degree for one picture on mySpace. Well, that's just not true. There's obviously more to it than that, and you'd be dishonest to claim otherwise.

Although the article says it's about the photo, it's not clear that the issue is ONLY about the photo. It could be, for example, about the photo in the context of the myspace blog. Certainly, if the student's message indicates a lack of character, then the school has every right (a duty, in fact) to withhold the award of the degree.

Listen, all you "privacy rights" whiners, get this: WHAT PEOPLE DO IN THEIR PRIVATE LIVES DOES MATTER. If a person is stupid enough to post ethic-rending articles and pictures on a "personal" website (available to anyone in the world), then they should get what they deserve; just as if a person running for a police officer job gets turned down because he is a card-carrying member of a white supremacist organization.

I'm personally sick and tired of the Privacy Rights whiners who want a line around "personal lives" but can't define where that line should be except for on a case-by-case basis. That's idiotic. Here's a better idea:

Credential organizations make the sole, non-discriminatory decision on whether to award a credential.

People applying for credentials should conduct themselves as if they had to answer for their conduct whether or not they think people might catch them.

To the original first responder:

Privacy has nothing to do with the issue. The WWW is public domain and anyone who is freely willing to post pictures of him/herself advertising alcohol (whether real or not) or other "drug" should be met with consequence, especially when a job/title they want serves the general public and, most importantly, children.

With that being said, if she earned her degree, she should have received it. Millersville did not say she did not meet her requirements to obtain her degree and since she was scheduled to graduate, her teaching degree should have been received and not a substitute.

Regardless of which side of the story you see as clearer, it's also visible that mistakes were made on both student and University. She held herself out there on the public domain while pursuing a degree that immediately deals with children, and the University did not give the student the degree she worked for, earned, and paid for. To me, this is a simple case of action/reaction. In the end, both parties were wrong regardless.

As a parent, I am appalled.

Not only because of the injustice of the act itself (even if the picture had shown her puking in the gutter, that would not be cause to deny her degree. Whether to hire her or not is the prerogative of schools, and doubtless some may not, but she has fulfilled all academic requirements to get her degree and her teaching certificate, so the school is 100% in the wrong to attempt to deny that), but because the absolute worst way to prevent children from having problems with alcohol is to attempt to insulate them from the very idea that it exists or that people drink.

Like many people my age who were born in the midwest, my brother and I grew up knowing what alcohol was and seeing adults drink it (not be drunk, I'm talking about a beer or wine at dinner), so there was nothing mysterious about it.

I had my first beer as a teenager, under parental supervision, as did my brother. We learned early and learned properly what alcohol is, what its effects are, and that you have to treat it with respect so you don't get into trouble. I haven't asked, but I believe our parents' reasoning was partly that that was how they and everyone they knew learned, and partly that if people want to drink, they will find a way to drink, so they better not be getting their first drink at some party somewhere and not know what they're doing.

To clarify, I do not mean that our parents allowed us to get drunk in the home, or anything like that. I just mean that we were occasionally allowed to drink, which accomplished two important goals: we knew how to handle it, and it demystified alcohol. Neither of us, when we turned 21, went out and had some big party and got drunk and stuff. I didn't even go to a bar on my 21st birthday, nor did my brother. I had a couple beers with a friend who was already 21 on the weekend following my birthday, and that time, I bought instead of him (at the supermarket).

Did I sometimes drink when I was in high school, out of adult supervision? Sure, so did my brother, and I'm sure we would have whether we'd been allowed to drink in the home or not. Many (I'm pretty sure most) kids did, and I'm just as sure most of them were not allowed to drink at home, ever. Unlike most of the people at these parties, I was never drunk, and was never out of control. Many people were the former, and some were the latter.

I don't know how our country has gotten to the point where we make such a moral issue out of alcohol, and attach some positively mystical significance to the age of 21. In some countries, drinking as a teenager is both routine and legal (Germany for instance), and I'd be surprised indeed if they don't have fewer alcohol-related problems than we do.

The American national attitude towards alcohol has become extremely immature. If we take a more mature and relaxed attitude towards it, we will have fewer problems.

How will I handle it when my kids are teenagers? I expect I'll handle it like my parents did, and how their friends did, because it worked and worked well. One thing is certain: I don't want my daughters learning how to drink on their own, in an uncontrolled environment where their parents are not there to protect and advise them. I don't want them to accidentally get drunk because they have no experience with alcohol and don't know how to handle it and limit themselves. How many date rapes could be prevented if we all did this?

(Note: this does not mean I will push them to have a beer when they are teenagers; if they want to abstain, that's fine and good. If they don't want to abstain, they will learn at home the valuable skill of knowing how to control the alcohol, so it doesn't control you).

now I see why americans should never travel the world. some of the comments here are unbelievable, and Wendy when your kids find out where they came from are you going to turn yourself in to the police as sex maniac and all round bad parent...

Two things:

1) She spent a good deal of time/money/work to get her degree, but they did not give her one based on unrelated reasons. Does that mean getting a degree is luck instead of knowledge? College degrees are useless?

2) The comment at the to said it best. What of people who are going for English Degrees? You've just trivilaized their work and trivialized the field. College degrees are useless?

I personally think the image was unprofessional, but when you are at a halloween party you are not (I hope) required to be.

May be there was something else wrong with that woman's personality and her academic activities at that school , something that was not preferred to be stated as a reason?

I mean, judging this issue without deeper knowledge of situation is pointless.

While I don't agree with this particular circumstance, the first comment on this article is really quite confusing. How can we be "approaching an age where privacy is an illusion", when the picture was posted on a publicly accessible MySpace page? Just as images of you walking by on TV can be used since you don't have any reason to assume any privacy walking down a street, I think the same idea applies here. I might not like the outcome, but there is no argument that she should have had some reasonable expectaion of privacy since she posted them for the PUBLIC to access.

I think that this is ridiculous. My little sister who is in seventh grade has a prinicpal of her school who is tattooed, unmarried and pregnant...how is that an acceptable role model and yet this woman is denied her education degree? Ridicilous.

They just crush someones entire future on a whim and we wonder why people go on rampages and kill people in schools? They're lucky all this poor woman did was sue them. It'd be quite easy to crack under such a shock and so something really stupid.

How come I have not yet seen any of these news ar