Caitlin Ortiz, Molloy College Student, Loses Scholarship Because Of Rap Lyrics On Her Facebook Wall

A student at Malloy College claims that she lost her scholarship after she posted some rap lyrics on her facebook profile

Caitlin Ortiz, a softball player, posted a picture of herself and then captioned it with "'andd imm put this drink uppp like its my lastt" which is a quote from the Big Sean, Chris Brown song, conveniently named, "My Last."

This was apparently more than softball team's coach Susan Cassidy-Lyke could bear.

MTV's Rap Fix has more:

"Cassidy-Lyke referred Ortiz to a printout of Ortiz's Facebook page and stated Ortiz should not have posted the typo-filled song lyric [including] 'and imm put this drink upp like its my last' - because she did not want recruiters to think Molloys' softball team was 'full of thugs,' " the complaint read. Ortiz also cited another posting, an alleged threat to a housemate, as part of her discrimination suit.

Ortiz is now suing the school for discrimination.

Is Malloy College being discriminatory in this instance? Weigh in in the comments section.

Comments

[Konrad Klean]

12:28 PM on 06/22/2011

Slippery slope, as more than casual part of the institution she should have realized that she represents the institution through her behavior. If someone can lose a scholarship for posting racist and bigoted items on their facebook this certainly *could* be cause for similar disciplinary action.

Seems a little overblown, but discrimination? Seriously? Sounds to me like someone was a hassle and a bigot to begin with.

[CRMurray]

10:03 AM on 06/22/2011

Really? Oh come on!

Granted she could have made her account private but if monitoring a students' non-school activities to this extent is ridiculous. Let people have fun with their lives. Its a song. You know how many songs cover the same topic but the fans of that genre aren't called "thugs"? Exactly. I wouldn't be surprised if their was an underlying "thing" that the coach has issue with.

[Lisa Shields]

08:54 AM on 06/22/2011

Harsh...but kids HAVE to learn that the Internet and what they put on it has ramifications.

Adults can lose their jobs for ill advised tweets.
You can lose a job you might be qualified for, because the HR department checked out your Facebook page. It is a curious conundrum. We have "free speech", but with that freedom, there are consequences. We've gotten used to saying whatever we like...but we lost the lesson that those words can cost us...dearly.

[Calvin Fann]

04:51 AM on 06/27/2011

so what did she say that was wrong?

[Ted Tillery]

08:07 AM on 06/22/2011

Sounds like coach didn't "Lyke" her picture caption. LOL!

[Eddie Shim]

05:04 AM on 06/22/2011

Wow. White people never put borderline offensive and mentally retarded comments filled with the typos on their Facebook wall. Never. Now, if Ms. Ortis was fair-skinned, blond-haired, blue-eyed Ms. Thomas, would she have LOST her scholarship?

Weigh in on the comments section, readers.

[Devin Foreal]

12:16 AM on 06/22/2011

Now a debate worth having is whether we should be giving scholarships to kids who are good at throwing balls around while America is rapidly falling behind in every academic subject.

[Devin Foreal]

12:13 AM on 06/22/2011

How are you all so okay with this? She did not do one thing wrong. Nothing that would affect her athletic or academic performance. Now I don't think Malloy is full of "thugs" I do think their faculty must be full of uptight, out of touch ingrates who have forgotten what it is to be young. Remember when Elvis's hipshaking was going to ruin America or the Beatles' hair. It is absolutely asinine.

[CaptainKing]

08:39 PM on 06/21/2011

Umm, what was this "alleged threat to a housemate" posting? It sounds like that one would be a bigger deal than intentionally misspelled rap lyrics...

[ElDru]

06:15 PM on 06/21/2011

People should learn to make their facebooks PRIVATE. We've all heard stories like this countless times...if you don't make your facebook private you're pretty much just asking for something bad to happen.

[big-bad-wolf]

04:08 PM on 06/21/2011

We're fast becoming a society of maximum punishments for first / minor infractions. What ever happened to judgment and leadership, both of which are sadly lacking in the softball coach? I'm no fan of Rap, but really!

[vtrob77]

11:31 AM on 06/22/2011

zero-tolerance happened... aka no reason, only rules

[Louis Bernardi]

03:45 PM on 06/21/2011

Considering blocks all not-party friends from facebook cause people take it way too seriously.

[ackezzy]

02:37 PM on 06/21/2011

boi

[kinger50]

01:36 PM on 06/21/2011

All things being equal, a person with the same talents, grades etc. and no questionable Facebook posts might deserve the money just as much as this person. The internet is public remember.

[Lucy1886]

02:55 PM on 06/21/2011

What is "questionable"? Would posting support for bombing Iraq be acceptable? How about some "country music" lyrics about being wasted (My favorite is: "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"). My point is that concepts like "thug" in reference to "black oriented" rap music could very like be a reflection of racial/ethnic prejudice. If they lyrics said something like: "Kill the M F" or something like that....it might be a point.....but seriously, those lyrics are quit tame.................

[acastan1]

01:09 PM on 06/21/2011

Susan Cassidy-Lyke: Part-time softball coach, Full-time grammarian.

[Tracy Harmon]

12:29 PM on 06/21/2011

It's definitely not discrimination. Every school has a code of conduct/ethics would should be followed. If she violated them, then should receive the consequences. Although, I do think the school should have provided a warning to her, instead of revoking her scholarship.

[Alan Hooker]

08:02 PM on 06/21/2011

Why should a school's code of conduct have sway over your personal non-school affiliated Facebook profile?

[AC Guts]

08:30 PM on 06/21/2011

Did said code of conduct say "Thou salt not post rap lyrics referring to having a drink utilizing poor grammar on one facebook wall"? If not why is this an issue?