The termination of employees as a result of Facebook posts is not new. Just last week, I posted about the pushback against the Eagles football franchise resulting from its decision to terminate a fan-employee for his Facebook post slamming the team's termination of fan-favorite, long-time player, Brian Dawkins. The phenomenon is not limited to employees, either. We've seen teacher-in-training, Stacy snyder, file suit against Millersville University after it refused to grant her a teaching certificate due to her, now infamous, "Drunken Pirate" post on Facebook. 
There's now another student-dismissal story--this one the result of the student's MySpace page. The University of Louisville nursing student was expelled from the school via a dismissal letter that cited her MySpace postings about "patient activities and identities." Disclosure of confidential patient information, said the letter, violates the nursing school's code of conduct.
But the student, Nina Yoder, denies the violation. Instead, she claims, she was dismissed from the program because school officials believed she was carrying a gun. When she was called in for the meeting, she was patted down by two campus security guards. She was unarmed and claims that she's never brought a weapon to school.
But on her MySpace page, Yoder defends her right to bear arms--Yoder was a paramedic in the U.S. Army prior to enrolling in the nursing program. According to the Courier Journal, the page also includes Yoder's "caustic and profane observations on race, sex, and religion, including diatribes against Blacks and Christians." Yoder has filed suit alleging that her MySpace postings, which, she claims, are protected by the First Amendment, were the real reason for her expulsion.
[Hat Tip to First Am. Law Profs]
For similar stories:
Facebook Makes Friends With the Ladies
What Employers Should Not Do In A Social Marketing Recruiting Campaign
Discoverability of Facebook Profiles
More Good Advice on Best Practices for Use of Social Networks for Employers
Free Podcast: Employers' Use of Facebook, MySpace, and Other Social Networking Sites
The Number of Adults Who Use Online Social Networking Sites Is Skyrocketing
Employers Use MySpace for Hiring and, Now, Defending Discrimination Claims
I still can't understand what reasons did the university have for expelling her? Couldn't they have just given her a verbal warning? Was anything in the policy book regarding if this sort of behavior, what would happen? What ever happened to giving the student guidance. You guided her right out the front door? No trial? What ever happened to open communication? You didn't even allow her to follow through your own bylaws?
I think the students need to rally together and support this student. She did nothing wrong!!! This was a personal opinion. She did not violate the HIPPA law. Does she have a history of being in trouble?
The students need to support her no matter what your major is. The university prevented her from speaking freely.
If this student is expelled she will have a very very difficult time getting in to any nursing program. The waitlist is over 2 years long. Plus, I am sure that the university will "black list' her name. Meaning, if she does get it in, the instructors will have their game hat on. Instructors retailate like you don't believe.
This girls life is forever destroyed. You guys need to stand up and team up.
Help her.
I hope her and her family the best. Its a shame, that she has to go through all this nonsense.
The university needs to realize that it is the students who are important. The university and other colleges out there, know they have the power of the pen. They can make it hard for you, change and or they can erase your grades. Thats what a couple did with mine when I was in school.
I know their dirty games.
The key is to stick togheter, support one another, and get media coverage.