Arrrrrgh, No Teaching Degree for Pirates!

[Yachtzee]

File this under "Now you REALLY have to watch what you post on MySpace."

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2029

[HotCorner]

When did common sense die?

[Johnny Footstool]

This could have enormous repercussions for a whole generation of "Girls Gone Wild"...

[TeamDunn]

I agree with #3...she is only filing suit for $75,000??????

[MrCinatit]

Cool - pay buttloads of money and (I am assuming) get passing grades - only to be denied a few weeks before graduation of an earned degree because a picture on a website has a caption a few uptights did not like. Yeah. Good idea.

[TeamDunn]

You know what is really scary about this...she was told the reason why. How many people have been denied jobs but never told the reason why?

What if someone else posts things about you or pictures that have been photo shopped?? Identity theft in this form (in this day and age of computers) is just as scary as someone that swipes your SS # and becomes you. :thumbdown

[hebroncougar]

You know what is really scary about this...she was told the reason why. How many people have been denied jobs but never told the reason why?

What if someone else posts things about you or pictures that have been photo shopped?? Identity theft in this form (in this day and age of computers) is just as scary as someone that swipes your SS # and becomes you. :thumbdown

The thing is.........she wasn't denied a job, she was denied a degree, which she earned. I can honestly see a teacher getting fired for that (I teach high school), not saying it's right, but I could see it happen.

[TeamDunn]

I'm not talking about just her. I'm talking in general. And unless a teacher were drinking with underage kids they should not lose their job over a picture.

At the firm I work for they are even doing it, doing a search for an applicants name to see what is out there.

I stopped using my real name online years ago and am very glad I did. Not that I have anything juicy or exciting out in cyberspace but just to keep my privacy. If I want to complain about my boss on any given day I don't want it to be found and held against me forever.

[oneupper]

Millersville says it ain't so:

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.

[M2]

Seems to me if she complete her course requirements with passing grades then she gets a degree. At the end of the day, that's going to be the "perspective of this academic situation" which matters.

[Ltlabner]

Having a beer, when of legal drinking age, is "unprofessional"? What a joke.

I guess I never realized that all teachers abstain from the fruit of the vine in the interests of professionalism.

Maybe this is a backlash against what appears to be a rash of young female teachers getting busted for having "relations" with their students? (that doesn't make it right, just thinking out loud).

[Chip R]

Methinks there's more to this than meets the eye.

[Yachtzee]

Seems to me if she complete her course requirements with passing grades then she gets a degree. At the end of the day, that's going to be the "perspective of this academic situation" which matters.

I agree. If she's fulfilled the requirements for the degree she has studied for, she should get that degree. It seems odd that a school would choose to not grant a student the degree she has sought and instead give the student an alternate degree in another area. The only thing reason I could thing of a school doing that is if she had failed to fulfill some requirement, like a required number of student teaching hours. If that were the case, I don't think the MySpace page issue should even be raised. Someone in the administration must have said something about it for it to have become an issue.

Does this mean aspiring teachers should avoid going to televised baseball games for fear they might be caught on national TV drinking a beer?

That being said, I have a MySpace page, but it is intentionally very spartan. The only reason I have one is because my wife said I should get one so that old friends could keep in touch.

[Johnny Footstool]

Having a beer, when of legal drinking age, is "unprofessional"? What a joke.

I guess I never realized that all teachers abstain from the fruit of the vine in the interests of professionalism.

My best friend is a teacher, a homebrewer, and a general beer guzzler. I've been out with a group of his teacher friends, and they carouse like everyone else.

[Ltlabner]

My best friend is a teacher, a homebrewer, and a general beer guzzler. I've been out with a group of his teacher friends, and they carouse like everyone else.

Actually, I was being sarcastic.

At university the two groups of folks I liked to party with were (1) nurses and (2) education majors. Good times.