Stacy Snyder was denied a teaching degree, and was instead granted a degree in English, by the administration at Millersville University last summer. The reason was a photo on her MySpace account (since deleted) that showed her in a pirate’s hat at a Halloween party. The photo was captioned “Drunken Pirate.”
During her student teaching, her cooperating teacher found out about the posting, and claimed it was unprofessional. Snyder apologized, said she was not drunk in the photo, and took the photo down. However, she was terminated from her student teaching, and the administration at Millersville would not grant her a teacher’s credential, nor a teaching degree.
Jane S. Bray, dean of the School of Education, accused Snyder of promoting underage drinking. Snyder has filed a lawsuit against the University, claiming $75,000 in damages.
Is this “unprofessional”
photo sufficient evidence to
revoke a teaching
degree? Vote below.
Here is a news video of Snyder that shows the actual photo, and her reaction to whole event.
Whether you agree with the University’s actions or not, this brings up powerful questions about public postings on MySpace and other websites. I know that teens and students consider those postings their own private space, and rarely consider the implications of having their postings and photos in the public space.
But that aside, do you think that Millersville University did the right thing? Was a pirate photo captioned “Drunken Pirate” sufficiently unprofessional to warrant withholding the teaching degree and certificate?
Please scroll down to post a comment to explain your position.
Noways, how can they refuse the degree of someone because of the way they wear.It is unfair to be gugded by your look.
This is a slippery slope if there ever was one. If we are not careful we could awake one day and find all of our basic human rights gone. Stacy deserves the degree of her choice, the degree which she earned. The actions of the university were arbitrary and capricious. I hope she prevails in her lawsuit and I hope she receives quadrupal damages. There are corrupting influences in the world and we cannot root them out without destroying the essense of what it means to be alive and human. If the university wants to improve the quality of life on this planet, then let then let them fight real evil, like those who brainwash people into suicide bombings and those who preach hatred and bigotry.
This is a slippery slope if there ever was one. If we are not careful we could awake one day and find all of our basic human rights gone. Stacy deserves the degree of her choice, the degree which she earned. The actions of the university were arbitrary and capricious. I hope she prevails in her lawsuit and I hope she receives quadrupal damages. There are corrupting influences in the world and we cannot root them out without destroying the essense of what it means to be alive and human. If the university wants to improve the quality of life on this planet, then let then let them fight real evil, like those who brainwash people into suicide bombings and those who preach hatred and bigotry.
If the young lady in question fulfilled her requirements then she should have been issued a teaching credential. Although her behavior can be judged unprofessional, the University shouldn’t be the one to make such judgement. Rather, Millersville University should be more concerned with ensuring that ALL their student teachers are prepared to teach. Perhaps it’s time to re-examine the ACTUAL need for education departments at our colleges and universities.
That was ridiculous! She has every right to sue the university and I hope she wins. And having a drink (or more) is not against the law. The university needs to worry more about illegal drug use than drinking!
This My Space posting clearly shows a lack of good judgement on the student’s part. However, to deny the degree is equally a poor decision by the university. She is academically qualified to teach via her training, and as such, should be conferred a degree. It will have to be the decision of a school district whether she is employable based on her skills and her judgement. I would bet (another “sin”) that she has learned a valuable lesson that will make her a thoughtful teacher and excellent example to children as she matures and works through her career.
Teachers are no longer allowed to have a “private” life. Why? Everyone else screams when their privacy is abused. Teachers are human. They make mistakes. They lose patience with a child occasionally and speak too loudly. They have problems at home just like anyone else. They have children who get in trouble just like other families. Why do we have to be saints to be teachers? Children can still learn from our mistakes if we can be open and honest about them. We can model taking responsibility. But we can’t do that now for fear of being crucified by the press, by our administrator, by our parents. Then they wonder why we take a drink now and then.
It does seem rather unfair if this is the whole reason – one problem with voting ( should’ve gotten? by the way!) is that the whole story is rarely told. Perhaps to be sure we should all stop singing “What should we do with the drunken sailor” or “A pirates’ life for me (Yo,ho,ho and a bottle of Rum)” with children, in case they are tarnished with a drink problem for life. The ironic fact is that research shows teaching is so stressful that a huge percentage of teachers actually do drink too much to cope with the pressure.
I hope the public attention on this case will allow this student the chance to utilise the training that the public has supported by allowing her to teach.
What is really unfair and repugnant is the double standard that is implied — we have many commentators, political and religious leaders, and other well-known people who have PUBLICLY done something wrong. When it ‘all blows over’ they continue to operate in whatever sphere or endeavor they are in. That this girl is being denied her teaching credentials is ridiculous! Plus, as a teacher, I have known many others who did take a drink or two too many when in party circumstances; but, it did not impair their functioning as teachers!
To deny a degree for such a flimsy excuse—does sound like a fairly serious civil rights violation to me and I certain hope that Ms. Snyder will find a good lawyer and sue the pants off the university administrators who made that decision. The case is only slightly weakened if there is more to the story or if the school is a bastion of Bible-Belt Baptist bigotry committed to stamping out alcohol. It happens that I no longer drink precisely because I used to drink way too much in my college and university (grad school) days, but this doesn’t mean ANYTHING regarding how other people should behave or be treated, and if every graduate student who drank to excess were denied a degree….well, I guess the one positive result is we wouldn’t have nearly enough Ph.D.s around to fill all positions, so academic salaries might start to creep up again….
I do not feel the university was fair in denying Stacey her degree. She met the requirements of the degree, and her actions did not hurt their institution. Even though we are teachers, we are still human beings with outside lives. While it may have been an error in judgement on her part as to the words in the title, the punishment was far too harsh for the crime. From the looks of the photo, Stacey was fairly young. Haven’t we all done things in our past that we wanted to be forgiven for? She has apologized, and I’m sure that she will remember this incident for a long time. We need more teachers with a sense of humor in our profession!
This is insane, at least from a bystander’s point of view. Are we judging this young woman’s character and ability to teach by a silly picture and a slightly inappropriate caption?! Which, by the way, she took down immediately when confronted, showing a conscientious and repentent nature. I agree that teachers should be held to a higher standard, but where do we start and who sets the standard? Do you think those teaching our children now made no mistakes? I agree with poster Robyn; perhaps their only saving grace was no MySpace.
While I don’t think that it was a very intelligent thing to put as a caption, I don’t think that one photo should be a reason to revoke a teaching degree. Furthermore, the caption is the only means suggesting what is in the cup, and Snyder claimed that she was not drunk. I don’t see how that would promote underage drinking, as her myspace page is unlikely to be targetted directly at minors or students. Myspace is a site that should not be used as a means of determining a person’s beliefs. People feel more free to disclose information on there that they would not normally reveal in a conversation, and that’s because people are more liberally accepting and less apt to judge by it. It should be considered a private space, not a public one considered by employers or the admin of a university.
Is the one picture the problem or was it the entire page? This one picture was inappropriately titled. Lessons do need to be learned, and consequences should be applied. However, I feel that holding the teaching degree was unwarrented, unless she did not maintain a grade average to earn the degree. Since she was not able to continue with her student teaching, obviously she would need to address that issue and re-take the student teaching semester.
I have worked at a summer camp for many years and the policy there is if there is anything deemed to be inappropriate on a myspace or facebook or any page of the sort, the person is not hired. The pages are checked routinely and if any inappropriate posting appears, the employee is fired. I have heard that this policy is enforced in many businesses, especially those that require contact with children. People do need to be very careful about what is posted on the Internet, because it can come back to haunt you for years into the future.
I think that too many people believe that they aren’t going to be held responsible for their actions. So while the photo does not specifically represent drinking the caption did. I believe that the college was fair in giving her an english degree. SHe paid for and studied for a degree. I wouldn’t have given her a teaching degree either. I wouldn’t want a teacher that says one thing and then publically does another teaching my children.
A caption under a picture. Hmm let us be creative. We do want to promote creativity in our children, don’t we… A drink, not against the law, nor in itself a sign of moral decay.
As stated earlier by Robyn, Stacey’s employability should be looked at by future employers.
While I agree that there SHOULD be moral guidelines for people who have a direct impact on our children, there are currently NOT any guidelines that are consistently followed. If it were their intention to ‘make an example’ of her, they should have chosen someone who had done something more than simply drink out of a glass with a pirate hat on! There is nothing in that photo to suggest that she really was drunk! It would be entirely different if she would have been dancing shirtless on a table with a pirate’s hat on! Besides, the institution needs to remember the adage: he who is innocent should throw the first stone. Haven’t they ever drank out of a glass with a goofy hat on? I mean REALLY!
Give me a break! How in their right mind could they hold her teaching degree from her. Would they do this if she was male? There are numerous women in college who are pregnant and not married. Are they going to do the same to them? This isnt the victorian age. Women and men need to support her.
The picture does not depict a drunk person. It merely shows a person who is drinking a drink out of a plastic cap AND what the person is drinking is not evident(ie, I don’t see a beer, wine or hard liquor bottle in this picture). With only her mention that she was drinking an alcoholic drink to guide us…the picture in itself does not show us anything that would require the university to withhold her certificate. They should award her for her hard earned accomplishment. I agree with Robyn posted above.
This is ridiculous, Stacey either passed the units of her course or she did not, if she did she is entitled to the qualification. Any moral judgement as to her suitability as a teacher should be taken by her potential future employers. I wonder how many of the academics who took this decision could have survived such scrutiny in their student days and how many would have been sufficiently naive to post the photo on the web if it had been around at the time! Hindsight is a wonderful teacher, I bet Stacey never makes such a foolish error of judgement again but what a ridiculous price to pay for this one!
I answered “I don’t know.” While I am a teetotaler and an ex-therapist, living in a town with a huge underage drinking problem, I would have said NO to whether that picture was sufficient cause for withholding the degree. But that’s not what the poll question itself asked, and I have read elsewhere that the picture isn’t the whole story. I guess more will be revealed.