Brigham Young Rescinds Diploma of Excommunicated Alum

Reader Comments
Back to blog

As a former and very brief BYU student, I can attest every incoming student has, by requirement, signed the famous honor code agreement before beginning the admissions application. In this contract the student agrees to follow all stated and defined rules; this includes keeping a shirt on and not representing the institution with mockery. BYU is a private school founded, funded and managed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hence they can do whatever they want. In brief it isn't a public university. Students have no grounds for complaints when attending this school as they know exactly what awaits them before ever stepping foot on campus. Truthfully, many students break the honor code in someway as I did many times; however as other BYU students and myself know, quiet double standards of the righteous are usually unnoticed and/or dismissed After the end of a successful semester, this Midwesterner chose to transfer back to The Ohio State University, a more socially sensible and academically prestigious institution.

Jeff Olden of OH 9:27PM February 05, 2010

I'm always amused by these clowns who go to BYU because the reputation is excellent and the tuition is low, but they don't want to follow the rules and they constantly want to poke the Mormon church in the eye while living off its largesse. Such individuals are, in the Utah Mormon vernacular---ignorant.

Lance Hamner of IN 5:48PM August 20, 2009

I had a couple friends sent back home to other countries after using the Fword...once. And I was kicked out of the cafeteria a number of times for having shorts less than 1/10 of an inch over the knee (yeah the guy pulled out a ruler). When I attended BYUH I was told directly that I could not be hired for a part time job because I was not a Polynesian. Furthermore I was also told by my bishop to "Go home to the mainland" and that I was "taking up a spot his worthy Samoan nephew should have got". I wasn't prejudicial when I went there, but sure was when I got back.

Don't think so of FL 7:15PM February 09, 2009

If a person doesn't like the BYU standards, then don't go there. Stop whining.

Canuck 11:22AM November 11, 2008

Who cares.... like anything else he had a choice where he wanted to attend school. Like with any private school they aren't held to the same standard as a publically funded schools that the tax payers subsidize. "Public" schools have to polically correct, whereas people that go to private schools are there because they are tailored to there needs. Hence, he should've thought about his "needs" before enrolling.

of 9:42AM October 31, 2008

<Harvard didn't take away the degree of the unibomber.>
Before he started to study and earn his degree, he made a promise, on his honer, to follow some rules.
He decided to not live up to his honer, and the rules he agreed to before starting his education, so he also chose to live by the results.
The promise was part of his earning the degree, and he did not finish that requirement, even though he agreed to it before starting at the school.

of UT 1:43PM October 30, 2008

Other schools don't take back their diplomas from alums who don't live up to their standards.
Harvard didn't take away the degree of the unibomber.
A degree is earned. He earned it. The church can do as they wish, but the school is beyond out of line.

Girl with brain of MA 10:33AM October 30, 2008

Before this person started at BYU he signed a contract.
I do not know what the "other reasons" are, but he did not live up to his end of the contract.
What would you do if someone broke a contract with you?

of UT 2:42PM October 29, 2008

When I was at BYU, a friend of mine who wanted to leave the Church was kicked out of school her last quarter and told she had to pay back her scholarships. When several of us protested this action, we were also kicked out of BYU.
After i left the LDS Church, of my own free will, not excommunication, BYU refused to release my transcripts to other schools, in effect making me lose 2 years of credits.
I feel sorry for this kid, who happened to try to be creative.

Eileen of CA 2:04PM October 23, 2008