WingColors

Wow, that's ridiculous. I'm sure a long legal battle will ensue, but all the same, it shouldn't have happened because of a photo on MySpace.

But honestly... you cannot tell WHAT she's drinking in the picture so the caption leads you to ASSUME she's really drunk. Second... name me ONE high school student that would HONESTLY be "offended" by that photo as they claim.

Also... assuming that she is in good standing payment wise (paid in full for her schooling) I see NO way the school can hold her degree hostage as she has paid for it.

I can't wait to see how this unfolds. If the case gets anywhere it'll be one of those First Amendment debacles for sure.

Seriously, this whole thing is absolutely ridiculous. She could have been drinking anything and the school has no way to prove anything. To deny someone a degree, which they've given over thousands of dollars for over one photo that has nothing to do with anything about school.

Now, it was a teaching degree, and if she was photographed giving a baby some beer then it might be different. ;-)

But either way, the school better have a clearly spelled out policy or they're going to lose this case, drum up a huge pile of bad press and in the end, she'll have her degree and the school with look like morons.

Moral of this story: Don't drink underage and post evidence publicly.

Moral the second: Don't reference your public drunkenness publicly.

Moral the Third: Myspace will ruin your life.

I agree with RightOn. You can't tell what she's drinking... she could be drunk on chocolate milk...

For all we know, the cup is actually empty.

I personally feel if they deny her the degree she earned, she's entitled to a full refund of her tuition.

I see it as one... so whatm it's MySpace. If the school she's working for has a rule against maintaining a MySpace profile then she can either a)get another job or b)drop the page.

Holding a degree hostage when the student owes nothing in return (has completed all prerequisites for the degree in question) then they're at fault.

A full refund of tuition would not be enough for me. That doesn't compensate for all the time and effort put in studying. The loss of time because she'll have to repeat some courses to get a degree elsewhere.

This woman is married with kids, she's not underage. Referencing yourself drunk and expecting people to spin it into a harmless way is ridiculous but denying her degree was over the top. I didn't think they had the right to do that. I didn't think they could do that.

MySpace most of the time is more trouble than it's worth simply because it's almost impossible to think of all the messed up situations that can occur. Who would have thought of this?

What does it matter if she was drunk? If she's of age, that's her choice. If the picture showed her drinking and driving or drinking and beating midgets, I could understand. But she's a grown woman. If it's not affecting her work at school, I think they crossed the line.

I'm with Tyme. I don't want my tuition, I want the degree I've worked on for years. And I'd want the chance to be drunk walking across the stage at graduation.

MySpace most of the time is more trouble than it's worth simply because it's almost impossible to think of all the messed up situations that can occur. Who would have thought of this?

Seriously.

Haha, she might be messed up. She is supposed to conduct herself according to these guidelines.

1) Because she labelled herself as drunk, you'd have to go with the assumption she was drunk. She brought that on herself (especially since the picture was from 2005).
2) Would parents have respect for a teacher what does this (ie: doesn't have enough common sense not to do that)?
3) If students came across the profile, saw the pictures, would they have the respect for her? Remember she doesn't have students now.

There is a clause in there saying if the student doesn't hold X qualities the school is not supposed to give the degree.

Ouch. Glad I don't live in PA. :)

I went to college in Pittsburgh. There's a lot of smaller schools around that area that cater specifically to people looking to become teachers. There are dozens of people currently working the PA school systems with stuff waaaay worse than that in their pasts.

Teachers are people, they aren't above reproach. The best teachers you've ever had have things in their closets a thousand times worse than a silly hat and a drink. This is a case of some ultra-conservative nutso administrator playing holier-than-thou.

And, don't even get me started on the crazy shiz I saw college level professors and administrators get into.

I agree. My father was a teacher and he used to get tie-tongued...literally but kept what happened at the club (wherever) at the club. That is where people get themselves into trouble, sharing so much of themselves.

The best teachers have experience to pass on to their students.

Was I looking at the right picture? If it didn't have a caption, it would have just been an ordinary picture. I see more incriminating drinking pictures on my friends' facebook albums everyday, and most of those are underage. Once again, was I looking at the right picture?!

This is pretty outrageous. That link to the code of professional behavior talks only about a person's professional behavior -- how you interact with students and other educators, in your capacity as an educator. How you behave outside your profession is nobody's business and there's nothing in that section that has anything to do with what is essentially private behavior. Now, if she'd told her students to go look her up, that would be another matter entirely. I do think she needs to find a lawyer and make a big stink. (Oops. I see she has. I wonder sometimes about the bad judgment people show over things like this. Wouldn't you, before you took the terribly drastic step of denying someone their teaching degree, ASK somebody -- you know, like the university's legal department -- if this was such a great idea?)

I find this whole story to be utterly ridiculous and in most countries, this would not happen. This is probably just as absurd as this lawyer suing for 65 million over some pants.

I'm sorry, some of these stories are just borderline insane.

Yup, that's the correct picture.

She is suing which means the school will have to say their side of the story. Business wise I can't see them doing this unless it passed their legal department so one would think there has to be something.

Can't wait to hear their side. Not that I agree a student should be denied their degree when they did the work and paid the fees. I strongly disagree with that. Employers look at MySpace now to dwindle down applicants - let it come up them if it must.

I do think employers have the right to make the decision on whether an employee is reflecting the type of character (brand) they want reflected back on their company, even if off-hours. An example is 9rules. If a member started spewing hate on their blog is that a blog we want in 9rules? No. Should we be expected to risk our brand that we worked so hard for because a member has different views that we do? No. Should that person be free to write whatever they want? Yes. What do you do? Sever the tie.

Having a particular job is a privilege granted to you by the employer, not a right (IMO). If the employee's "brand" doesn't match the company's brand, sever the tie.

What would be interesting: what if the school denied her degree and immediately refunded all of her tuition? Could she sue? Could a court force a school to give her the degree (of course she'd have to give the money back)?

Then the other question, if she receives a refund then it's like she never took the courses! Another 4 yrs! :(

Tyme, I think you're right to separate out the issues -- an employer can base a hiring decision on many things that might not seem "fair" but as long as they aren't making a hiring decision on things like age, race, religion, sex, etc. they have carte blanche.

The school's decision to withhold this student's degree is partly a contract issue -- the student paid money to get something, and the school agreed to give it to them as long as they fulfilled certain requirements (pay money, take classes, etc.) Now, if the student didn't fulfill the requirements, then the school doesn't have to give them the degree. But if the student DID do everything, and the school still refuses to give them the degree, then the school has breached its contract with the student. And when that happens you ask -- what's the remedy? A remedy is something that makes a person "whole" -- gives them the thing they've bargained for. (there are exceptions, but not ones that apply here.) The remedy is for the school to give the student what they agreed to give them, and that is a degree. Paying back the money doesn't make the student whole, and so it's not an appropriate remedy.

They are giving her a degree. It will just not be an education degree because she did not complete her student teaching due to the fact that the school she was student teaching at- the supervisor- dismissed her due to the picture. They are giving her an English degree.

If this pans out or not it is not worth the hassle of posting anything to on site like that.

My Space - bad idea.