Wednesday, Dec. 10,2008 10:24 p.m.
The glare of the computer screen is giving you a headache. This
research paper just will not get done. You need something to relax your
mind – yes, it’s time for Facebook or MySpace. You login, check who is
online, and click through the newly tagged photos of last weekend’s
revelries.
Man, was that a crazy party! And that photo of you – wow, were you
drunk. Surely most – though certainly not all – students share this
common experience. After all, it is college. Few, however, could
imagine that a little photo documentation of your excess could cost you
not just your job, but maybe even your degree.
But such were the consequences for Stacy Snyder. Snyder attended
Millersville University where she was pursuing a bachelor’s degree in
teaching and, as required by her university program, was a student
teaching at a local high school.
This local high school eventually barred Ms. Snyder from campus when it
discovered a photo of her on MySpace with the caption “drunken pirate.”
The photo depicted Snyder, adorned in pirate attire, tipping back a
plastic cup. Both the university and high school eventually claimed she
was encouraging underage drinking (Snyder was 27), and the university
even went as far as to convert some of Snyder’s credits to change her
teaching degree into an English one.