Stacy Snyder was a twenty-something single mother of two young children trying to earn her degree in education from Millersville University in Pennsylvania. In her spare time, she maintained a MySpace page where one day, she made a critical mistake and posted a picture of herself in a pirate hat drinking from a yellow plastic cup with the Mr. Goodbar logo on it (see picture). Had she not included the caption, "Drunken Pirate" under the photo, she may be a teacher today. Instead, representatives from Conestoga Valley High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where she was student teaching, complained about the photo to Millersville University administration claiming it promoted underage drinking. One day before Stacy was scheduled to receive her degree, she was told her years of hard work were for naught. The degree would not be forthcoming, and the root cause was her Drunken Pirate photo on her MySpace page which was deemed to have a negative reflection on her professionalism.
As you would expect, Stacy Snyder is suing Millersville University in an attempt to get the degree she earned (and paid for) as well as $75,000 (you can see an excerpt of the lawsuit filed in late April in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia on the Smoking Gun website). The question from a marketing perspective is an interesting one. In today's world where the internet is an extension of many people's personal lives with MySpace pages, personal blogs, family websites, etc., when does the information published for the world to see become a part of our resume? Where is the line drawn between what is truly personal and what is part of our personal marketing and individual brand? Is the day getting close when companies will start mandating what people can or cannot post on personal websites as it could be a reflection on the company's image or brand? When does this type of monitoring become a violation of one's right to free speech?
I suppose Stacy Snyder's case might be less controversial if the photo showed something derogatory or distasteful, but it's just a picture of a girl in a priate hat drinking what could be any beverage with a two-word caption. Neither the picture nor the caption include any profanity or offensive material. With the evidence at hand, I think Stacy will win this case. What do you think?
I can understand the High School denying her student teaching privileges but to deny her the degree she earned and paid for is absurd (and unconstitutional).
Only some small liberal arts school would even attempt something like this.
People do need to be very careful about publishing personal information online though.
I hope Stacy wins this case.
Posted by: JC | May 9, 2007 9:47 AM | Permalink to Comment