While working toward an education degree, a college student began working as a student teacher in a local high school. From the beginning, there were problems with her behavior toward students.

The teacher she was assisting repeatedly told her to adopt a more “down to business” approach and be less familiar with the class.

The last straw came when the student teacher invited the class to communicate with her via Myspace — even though the school had told her it was inappropriate to do so.

Breaking that policy was bad enough, but what was contained inside her Myspace profile was even worse. There was a picture of her in a pirate hat and a plastic cup, featuring the caption “drunken pirate.” She also posted a note discussing a conflict with the class’s teacher, referring to herself as the “official teacher.”

Once parents learned about the profile, they complained. The high school and university removed the woman from the student teaching program. She sued, claiming the college (a public university) violated her right to free speech.

But her case was tossed. Why? The court ruled the student had no right to speech that damaged her employer’s reputation.

Cite: Snyder v. Millersville University