Here at F.A.D.S. we love MySpace. For opening doors, building networks, and for all the drama it brings us. Companies have been known to fire employees due to graphic photos on the social networking site, people have been denied jobs for poor information posted, and now students are actually losing their degrees?
Stacy Snyder of Millersville University in Pennsylvania was denied her teaching degree just one night upon her graduation, because a photo of her was posted on MySpace drinking out of a NON see-through cup, with a caption reading “Drunken Pirate”. The Dean of her college, Jane S. Bray, says she won’t tolerate promoting underage drinking.
Snyder is currently 27 years old and the incriminating photograph was taken in 2005. You do the math.
This young lady worked her butt off for four years to earn her education degree and her teaching certificate, while holding a job as a student teacher and now currently as a nanny. So maybe she let lose one night and had a beer. Heaven forbid she wanted to get drunk in college and, okay, shame on her for posting that picture on the Internet. But does this punishment fit the crime?
We are taught at a young age that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Tell me please, Ms. Bray, is this punishment you enforced equal to the crime? We understand all teachers should have a level of professionalism, but isn’t losing her job as a student teacher in that school district enough?
Today, Snyder is suing for her degree, teaching certificate, and $75,000 in damages, and we hope she wins!
We all have poor judgment sometimes, whether it’s wearing stone washed jeans, or letting somebody take a photograph of you drinking. Beware, some people are out to set an example, and those with power can turn your life upside down. — Molli Megasko