Posted on 05/09/2007 7:50:46 AM PDT by agent_delta
MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - A 27-year-old Millersville University graduate filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the college for denying her an education degree and teaching certificate after a controversial Internet photograph surfaced last year shortly before graduation.
The picture shows Stacy Snyder of Strasburg wearing a pirate hat while drinking from a plastic "Mr. Goodbar" cup. The photograph taken during a 2005 Halloween party was posted on Snyder's MySpace Web page with the caption "Drunken Pirate."
"The day before graduation, the college confronted me about the picture," Snyder said Thursday. "I was told I wouldn't be receiving my education degree or teaching certificate because the photo was 'unprofessional.' "
Snyder said she apologized for the photograph, but Jane S. Bray, dean of the School of Education, and Provost Vilas A. Prabhu refused to issue the bachelor of science degree in education and teaching certificate Snyder earned.
Instead, the college issued Snyder a bachelor of arts degree in English.
Millersville University spokesperson Janet Kacskos referred questions to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education spokesman Kenn Marshall, who declined comment.
Snyder, a single mother of boys ages 9 and 7, works as a nanny for a family in Lititz.
"I dreamed about being a teacher for a long time," Snyder said. "When I was growing up, I spent more time with my teachers than my own parents, and it inspired me to someday make a positive impact on children."
Attorney Mark W. Voigt of Plymouth Meeting filed the lawsuit after failing to negotiate a hearing with Prabhu and Bray.
"Stacy deserves to be a teacher," Voigt said Thursday. "The bottom line is we want the college to bestow the degree and teaching certificate that Stacy earned during four years of hard work and sacrifice."
The lawsuit also seeks $75,000 in compensatory damages.
The university, Bray, Prabhu and professor/student-teacher supervisor J. Barry Girvin are named in the suit.
Voight writes in the lawsuit that Snyder, a dean's list student, performed her student-teaching requirements in 2006 at Conestoga Valley High School.
Teachers Deann Buffington and Nicole Reinking advised Snyder.
On May 8, Buffington called Snyder at home about an "issue" about her "professionalism" as a teacher, according to the lawsuit.
Reinking viewed the "Drunken Pirate" picture of Snyder on myspace.com and showed it to Buffington.
Buffington gave it to Girvin, who told Snyder "she may lose her teaching certificate due to the incident," according to the lawsuit.
Girvin also issued a final student/teacher evaluation of Snyder and granted "superior" or "competent" ratings in all areas except "professionalism." He gave Snyder and "unsatisfactory" rating, according to the lawsuit.
"There were errors in judgment that relate to Pennsylvania's Code of Professional Practice and Conduct for Educators," Girvin wrote in the evaluation.
On May 11, Girvin, Buffington and Reinking showed the "Drunken Pirate" photograph to Snyder, according to the lawsuit.
Buffington told Snyder that posting the photograph on the Internet was "unprofessional" and Conestoga Valley students might find it offensive.
Buffington also accused Snyder of "incompetence" and "claimed she should have been removed from her student-teaching position months ago."
Conestoga Valley officials told the college their students wouldn't be allowed to perform student-teacher requirements there if Snyder was not punished, according to the lawsuit.
Bray met with Snyder May 12. She accused Snyder of "promoting underage drinking through her 'drunken pirate' photo. Bray then stripped Snyder of her education degree and teaching certification, according to the lawsuit.
Snyder graduated the next day with an English degree.
The University is looking for excuses to not allow her to graduate. What person did Stacy insult who now wants revenge?
I hope she ups the ante and takes their homes and retirement savings.
Nuts
She must’ve defended Bush.
Guilty.
She must have insulted The Prophet, Al-Gore, Piss be upon him, And said she did not believe in Global Warming........
Might be something about my age, but personally I would like schools and employers to be barred from checking people out on MySpace and Facebook. I’d really like to know how they’re doing it too, cause usually you can’t see a person’s profile unless you’re friends with them. It just doesn’t seem right.
Drunken Pirate is like saying Stupid Liberal. Most pirates are drunk, but all liberals are stupid.
So, where’s the proof she really was drunk? Where’s the proof there was alcohol in the cup? Considering all that’s been in the news about teachers, this is way down at the bottom.
What the heck is Millersville...an Amish school?
Bump and Tard ping
While I won’t condone the typical college “binge years” behavior, by this standard 90% of all college students would never be granted a degree.
Bizarre. Someone has it in for her, I would guess. Either that, or the Pennsylvania education bureaucrats are nuts, which wouldn’t surprise me either.
Sue them into the freakin’ ground..............
If she did the coursework, and met the attendance requirements, she earned the degree.
Sounds like someone at MU is holding a grudge.
So she’s “promoting underage drinking” by posting a picture of herself at a Halloween party...two years ago when she’s 24 or 25? Yeeeeeeah.
Sometimes I think that the only people dumber than education school graduates are education school administrators.
}:-)4
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