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Culture > News

Student Loses Scholarship over Facebook

Admittedly, it’s no secret that the online realm is hardly “private” anymore. Your ill-advised Tweets and photos from last weekend’s kegger are constantly being viewed by potential employers and college admission boards. College students have been known to lose out on admissions and scholarships due to what they post on their Facebook page, but when does this go too far? Is it fair to lose a scholarship for quoting PG-13 rated lyrics? Could it be considered discrimination?

That’s what one student at Molloy College is saying about losing an athletic scholarship because of rap lyrics posted on her Facebook profile page.
 
Caitlin Ortiz, a softball player at Molloy College, is now suing the school for discrimination, saying that school officials overreacted in kicking her off the team. Being the only Hispanic player on the team, she was offended by racist comments made by the team’s coach and school’s athletic director Susan Cassidy-Lyke, who called Ortiz’s post “thug like comments.”

Ortiz posted a picture of herself with the caption “‘andd imm put this drink uppp like its my lastt,” quoted lyrics from the Chris Brown and Big Sean song, “My Last.”

“I don’t want to be known as a thug on the Molloy softball team,” Ortiz told CBS 2′s Jennfier McLogan. “A thug image solely because of that song lyric that I put on, and because of this she said I was cyberbullying, that I was threatening.”

What do you collegiettes™  think? Weigh in with your opinion at the comments box below!

Alexandra is a graduate from the University of New Hampshire and the current Assistant Digital Editor at Martha Stewart Living. As a journalism student, she worked as the Director of UNH’s Student Press Organization (SPO) and on staff for four student publications on her campus. In the summer of 2010, she studied abroad at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, in England, where she drank afternoon tea and rode the Tube (but sadly no, she did not meet Prince Harry). Since beginning her career, her written work has appeared in USA Today College, Huffington Post, Northshore, and MarthaStewart.com, among others. When not in the office, she can be found perusing travel magazines to plan her next trip, walking her two dogs (both named Rocky), or practicing ballet. Chat with her on Twitter @allie_churchill.