Well, I'm an English major too (if you think what I mean you think by that statement) and as far as I'm concerned, (but then I'm lacksadasical) you can use both, and people frequently do.
However, to be strictly correct, it should be 'the public doesn't' as public is a collective noun, and thus singular. (As is the forum, for example, or the crowd, etc etc. .)
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Ascended Mistress of Illumination