

Student fined for bringing university into disrepute with FitFinder site - SandB0x
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7140721.ece

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noonespecial
Sarcastic memo:

Seems like there could be some good money to be made fining final year
students for whatever little offenses we can think of. What are they going to
do, forfeit their degree over a few hundred (or thousand) dollars?

This will have to do until we can find a way to retroactively cancel their
degrees at any time in their ensuing professional lives because they do
something that as a graduate of this university might cast it into a bad
light. (Or just when money gets tight).

~~~
teaspoon
They might call your bluff. Graduation rate is a sizable component of the all-
important U.S. News ranking. Given the acrobatics top-tier colleges perform to
ensure each student leaves with a diploma, I wouldn't be surprised if an
unfinished degree is as costly to the school as it us to the student.

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philk
The university is bringing itself into disrepute by punishing a student who's
actually motivated to create something.

~~~
Zak
Not to mention the fact that they're trying to regulate legal and socially
acceptable conduct by students outside the university.

~~~
epochwolf
Good point on that. It's like applying controls on children in high school to
college students.

~~~
Zak
It really wouldn't matter if it _was_ high school. If it's not created or
hosted at school, the school has no justification for doing anything to the
creator.

~~~
teaspoon
I'm not sure if you're speaking philosophically, but there's plenty of
precedent for high schools in the U.S. punishing students for off-campus
behavior, and sundry justifications that seem to be accepted for doing so.

~~~
Zak
I'm saying that's generally unacceptable. I can think of a few exceptions,
such as online bullying where the off-campus behavior directly produces on-
campus behavior, but the school's jurisdiction should generally be limited to
the campus and school-sponsored activities.

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jackowayed
£300 to get articles written about his site? Sounds like the best marketing
ROI he could have hoped for.

~~~
MichaelApproved
But the site had to be taken down. £300 to get articles written about a site
that once existed.

~~~
JoachimSchipper
He has plans to put it back up as soon as he has his degree. I'm sure the
petition asking for it to come back doesn't hurt either.

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jrockway
Now if that's not extortion, I don't know what is.

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epochwolf
Is it actually legal for the university to do this?

~~~
cmelbye
Of course. He's not legally obligated to pay the fine, but they don't have to
give him his degree.

~~~
jrockway
If I walk into a store, buy something, and am then "fined" $300 and told I
can't leave with the item I just bought unless I pay the fine... someone's
going to be sued, and it's not going to be me. Of course, colleges won't admit
that they are a degree store, but...

~~~
cmelbye
I'm in high school, but surely you sign some sort of document giving the
college the right to do that?

~~~
loup-vaillant
Such a clause would have to be very broad, like "don't do _anything_ that
_might_ embarrass the university". That would probably be considered abusive,
and void.

They probably don't have the right, and count on your inability to effectively
sue them.

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jaytee_clone
His site is worth so much more than his degree, IMO.

I guess this is the I-am-pot-committed-so-i-have-to-go-through-with-it effect.
It's hard to make decisions based on future returns as suppose to past
efforts.

~~~
philjr
He's a few weeks away from getting his degree, I think he's probably made the
right call here - Take site down. Get degree. Put site back up.

~~~
jaytee_clone
Which do you think grabs more attention in a resume:

\- Graduated from xxx University with Honor in computer science

OR

\- My site was so engaging to students that my university had to threaten to
retract my degree three months prior to my graduation in order to force me to
shutdown my site.

This is the kind of PR Bill Gates get by dropping out of college. If I was
him, I'd keep the site running, let the university take my degree, then take
them to the court (knowing that I won't win), just to create more media
attention.

"A few weeks away from getting his degree" is exactly the kind of thinking
that I'm trying to avoid. But of course, who knows what I would actually do
when I'm in his shoes.

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eam
Their petition on their website:
<http://www.thefitfinder.co.uk/witnessthefitness/>

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gojomo
Shades of 'FaceMash'?

Invest in this kid's next project -- especially if he drops out to do it.

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curio
he should drop out of school and use it as an excuse to get on every tv
station and written about in every paper in the country.

who wants a degree from such a dumb school anyway. walk away. some of the best
companies of our time have been built by drop-outs.

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Technophilis
Does he really need a degree given the success claimed in the article ?

~~~
raganwald
Thought experiment: If he doesn't _think_ he needs the degree, why is he
there?

~~~
hitonagashi
Peer pressure?

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Aetius
I am really interested to know how this brings disrepute to the school. Is it
a so school known for churning out world class theoretical computer
scientists, that those building dating websites degrade its reputation?

