Are pictures of a 21-year-old person drinking alcohol grounds for a university to deny that person a degree?

In the case of Stacy Snyder and Millersville University (Penn.), this is a very real possibility.

According to an article by The Associated Press, Snyder was denied her teaching degree on the eve of her graduation after the university learned of a MySpace picture of Snyder in a pirate suit with the caption “drunken pirate.”

The university cited “promoting underage drinking” as the main reasoning behind its decision.

As always, people should be careful as to what pictures of themselves they post on MySpace or Facebook, but who’s to say a picture of a 25-year-old drinking legally is more impressionable on future students than a picture of that same person smoking cigarettes?

It’s completely unfair to strip Snyder of the degree she rightfully spent time and money earning because she was legally having fun in college. If a potential employer wanted to look at her MySpace or Facebook page, it’s their right to do so, but the university is not looking to put Snyder on its payroll.

By this logic, a large majority of all potential college graduates should be denied a degree because of their Facebook pictures. Just because Snyder was drinking on a Friday night does not give the university the grounds to assume she is going to be a bad teacher or a bad influence on her students. Millersville needs to be consistent with its decisions.

To do that, the university should look at every potential graduate’s MySpace or Facebook profile and then decide whether to allow each student a degree in his or her field. Because this probably won’t happen, the university should give Snyder the teaching degree she worked to receive.