Chad Hardy's BYU Diploma Withheld

[_Yong Xi]

Hard to understand how his diploma can be withheld, but it is so.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,51 ... 64,00.html

[_Pokatator]

All I can see coming is a law suit and more wonderful PR for the church and BYU.

[_Dr. Shades]

Check out this great statement in the "Comments" section:

"If I were Chad, I'd be initially incensed. On the other hand, a resume that states 'BS, BYU (revoked)' is worth more than a regular BYU degree. I have two degrees from BYU that are worth less than that."

[_Yoda]

What I'm confused about, is that if he was inactive for six years, how could he receive the necessary yearly ecclesiastical endorsement to continue attending? That doesn't make sense, either.

One of the commenters brought that out as well.

I don't think we have the full picture here. There seem to be a lot of holes in the story.

One thing...if he has completed all of his requirements, he can transfer them to another school and have his degree granted there.

Excelsior College, which is an online school based in New York, will accept transferred credit, and grant the degree without any required residential hours.

It is accredited through the US Department of Education, so it is not a diploma mill, or anything like that.

There are other options that are similar.

Part of my job in teaching Continuing Education courses at the college involves consulting with students on different educational options, so that's why I'm up on a lot of this.

If I were Hardy, I would be busy looking into some of these options if the degree is important to him, and BYU is really going to jerk him around in this manner.

It's certainly better than whining about something he's likely not going to be able to change. BYU is a private university and can write its' own rules.

[_Sethbag]

This kind of thing scares me. If the BYU administration ever finds out I'm essentially an apostate now, will they somehow revoke my degree? In another couple of months I'll have a masters degree from somewhere else (thank God), so it might not matter as much after that, but still, I'd hate to see BYU drag their feet sending transcripts when I need them to, and stuff like that.

This is all part of the drag of having your university, or your job, associated this closely with religion. Religious belief can come and go, but if they've got their hooks into you through your job, or through your educational record and degrees, that's an entanglement that can just get messy.

As for Chad Hardy, that really sucks. Apparently he already applied for graduation, and they let him walk in August, and then a month later they retroactively cancel it and say hey, hold on, you left the church so we're holding your degree hostage? That royally sucks, and shame on the church for this kind of shenanigan.

I find it astounding that schools can actually get accreditation, who are willing to hold a student's already-completed degree hostage simply because they no longer believe the religion is true.

[_TAK]

So how did this calender violate BYU conduct?

[_skippy the dead]

What I'm confused about, is that if he was inactive for six years, how could he receive the necessary yearly ecclesiastical endorsement to continue attending? That doesn't make sense, either.

I believe that he took 2 religion courses online over the summer to complete his requirements to graduate. I'm not sure how an ecclesiastical endorsement fits into that, or when he last attended school on campus.

by the way - the trick will be to see if he can get BYU to release his transcript so that he can transfer his credits to another school. And I don't know if it's the case now, but when I attended BYU, a large proportion of credits would not have been transferable to my state university system. That may make completing a degree a more costly and time-consuming process for Hardy.

[_KimberlyAnn]

Check out this great statement in the "Comments" section:

"If I were Chad, I'd be initially incensed. On the other hand, a resume that states 'BS, BYU (revoked)' is worth more than a regular BYU degree. I have two degrees from BYU that are worth less than that."

I don't think that's a great comment at all! I think it's insulting to folks who obtained perfectly good educations at BYU.

Chad Hardy should receive the diploma for which he worked, knowing it's valuable and not at all worth less than a revoked degree.

KA

[_harmony]

Your tithing dollar at work.

He earned the degree; not awarding to him is both theft (unless they plan to refund the tuition money he paid) and dishonorable (nothing new there, when dealing with BYU).

Transferring college credits is always a crap shoot, especially when religion classes are concerned.

How does BYU check for ecclesiastical approval for online or correspondence classes?

[_krose]

Maybe TCU will take his credits and give him a degree. At least if he gets it done quickly, while they are still in a state of euphoria in Fort Worth.

Quest for Perfection!