Posted on 03/06/2009 5:22:10 PM PST by delacoert
In a letter dated September 29, 2008, Chad Hardy, producer of the infamous Men on a Mission Calendars and website, received a letter from Brigham Young University informing him that his name had been removed from the August 15, 2008 graduation roll. The letter stated that he would not be awarded his BA degree in Communication Studies because he had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on July 13, 2008, a month before graduation.
All of his required coursework had already been completed prior to the church discipline. He was not required to abide by the schools strict Honor Code because he finished his coursework online from his home in Las Vegas, NM. The only recourse given to him to get his diploma was to come back to full fellowship with the LDS Church.
Brigham Young University failed to follow their own policies and procedures in disciplining Hardy and revoking his degree. Two weeks later, Hardy was denied and exception from BYU policy and will not be awarded his degree.
This series of videos is the actual recording from the official University Review with BYU Dean of Students, Vernon Heperi.
Private institutions still have rules to abide by due to their interaction both with licensing and finical aid. For example BYU has to abide by Title 9 polices.
Private institutions in this day and age have to give over some of their control for their degrees to mean anything and for the students to compete in the general population.
Been there done that from the institutional side.
The "prophet" and founder of mormonism, who had upwards of 30 wives is adored, and Hardy is excoriated because of showing the bare chests of men.
As to the disdain shown here regarding Hardy's not obeying the honor code, this passage shows the attitude of the "prophet" Joseph Smith towards the codes of churches in his neighborhood.
Remember, he built the mormon church on the declaration that "In response to his question concerning which church was the right one to join, Smith said, "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong... He again forbade me to join any of them" (Ibid., vs. 19-20).
Inconsistency about Church Membership
In the official first vision story Smith questioned, "Who of all these parties are right; or are they all wrong together?" (P. of G.P., J.S. History 1:10). Later he said, "I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that they were all wrong) - and which I should join" (Ibid., vs. 18). The words in parentheses were in the original and then deleted until 1981, but now that they have been put back in the text, they contradict verse 10! In response to his question concerning which church was the right one to join, Smith said, "I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong... He again forbade me to join any of them" (Ibid., vs. 19-20). But, Fayette Lapham said that about 1830 Smith's father told him that Joseph had joined the Baptist church in about 1824 (Historical Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 1870, pp. 305-306) The P. of G.P. J.S. History 1:7 says that Joseph's mother and sister Sophronia as well as his two brothers, Hyrum and Samuel, joined the Presbyterian church when the revival came. They remained members until September, 1828. Wesley Walters found this information in the Sessions Records, Vol. II, for the Western Presbyterian Church of Palmyra, New York. He also found that in 1822 Joseph Smith "caught a spark of Methodism and became a very passible exhorter in the evening meetings" (History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham's Purchase, 1851, p. 214). In order to be teaching in a Methodist church, Joseph must have been accepted rather than persecuted as he claimed in the P. of G.P., J.S. History 1:21-22. In 1828, Joseph sought membership in the Methodist church where his wife, Emma, had belonged since she was seven years old. The death of their firstborn son on June 15, 1828, may have motivated him to do that.
Emma Smith's cousins, Joseph and Heil Lewis, were members of the Methodist church which Joseph tried to join in Harmony, Pennsylvania. They said, "Joseph presented himself in a very serious and humble manner, and the minister, not suspecting evil, put his name on the class book, in the absence of some of the official members" (The Amboy Journal, April 30, 1879).
Joseph Lewis later added,
I with Joshua McKune, a local preacher at the time, I think in June, 1828, heard on Saturday that Joe Smith had joined the church on Wednesday afternoon (as it was customary in those days to have circuit preaching at my father's house on week day). We thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments and bleeding ghosts, in it. So on Sunday, we went to father's, the place of meeting that day, and got there in season to see Smith and talked to him some time in father's shop before meeting. Told him that his occupation, habits, and moral character were at variance with the discipline, that his name would be a disgrace to the church, and there should have been recantation, confession and at least promised reformation - that he could that day publicly ask that his name be stricken from the class book, or stand investigation. He chose the former, and did that very day make request that his name be taken off the class book (The Amboy Journal, June 11, 1879).
Joseph Smith's brother-in-law, Michael Morse, said that Smith's name remained on the class book for about six months (Ibid., May 21, 1879). Since Morse was the class leader who enrolled Smith, he may be right. But why did Joseph Smith seek to join the Methodist church in 1828 if Jesus Christ told him not to join any church in 1820? (See Mormonism - Shadow or Reality?, pp. 161-162).
I do not understand,
conservatives complain when the state run universities hold students to no standerds.
conservatives are complaining because Mormons are doing what they, the conservatives, want the state schools to do.
They need a new mark to steal from.
When I graduated, I had to wait about a month to receive my diploma due to some verification of my internship they needed. During that time, I was still officially a BYU student as was this guy. Had I violated the Honor Code during that time, they could have done to me the exact same thing they did to this guy. Why? Because I was still a student and therefore subject to the agreement I signed. The agreement ends at graduation.
Had he waited until they handed him his diploma and THEN published his calendar, BYU could have done nothing to him. So, he could have avoided all of this but he chose to break the Code while he was still subject to it. And given the timing of this controversy coming in the wake of Proposition 8 and his own statements to the media I posted above, it would certainly seem he deliberately chose to create this situation.
We thought it was a disgrace to the church to have a practicing necromancer, a dealer in enchantments
and bleeding ghosts, in it.
Joseph may have joined the Methodist Church, but they didn't keep him for long. As explained HERE and
HERE, they promptly gave Smith the boot for practicing sorcery using his magic peep stone (among other things.
Right you are. He should take it to court, if he can’t reach an agreeable settlement. That is why civil courts exist.
I do find that his dragging this out in order to some how embarrass the University is a bit much though.
I have an feeling an agreement will be reached in the near future.
The stretch here is assuming that this kid has a case despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. At best, its wishful thinking.
Hardy has said he intends to file a lawsuit.
Did you listen to any of the clips?
I find it strange that the mormon church drags this out in light of the bad publicity it has had during the past year or so, but it appears that the leaders want to use Hardy as an example to others that might rebel against the corporation, that "you don't tug on superman's cape" ...or garmies, as the case may be....or the hand that holds the "iron rod"!
I’ve listened to the tapes. This is a little weasel attempting to embarrass the church in order to promote the gay agenda. He set up this meeting purely to have something to put on youtube. He knew he wasn’t going to participate in good faith, and he didn’t.
The guy was excommunicated while still taking classes from BYU. He had left campus, and got involved in whatever “lifestyle” issues got him excommunicated. He set up this meeting in order to have something to tape, then refused to answer any questions about the period of time when he was enrolled in BYU taking classes online.
He is trying to make a technical distinction between taking classes online and taking classes on campus. His position is that, because he left campus and took classes online, he no longer had to abide by the honor code.
He is wrong. BYU is a church institution. Students agree in writing to maintain their standing in the church, and to live its standards. If they are not Mormon, they still have to live the moral standards, and obtain an ecclesiastical endorsement from their own church leaders. BYU is the cheapest private university in the country, because the students — including online students — are heavily subsidized by the tithing of faithful church members.
If this little weasel wanted to go off and do whatever it is he was doing — and given his statements about the “sacredness” of gay marriage and the homoerotic nature of his calendars — it’s pretty easy to guess what that is, IMO, he should have taken his credits from BYU, and enrolled somewhere else to complete his degree.
Instead, he is using his 15 minutes of fame to try to transform himself into another of Ann Coulter’s liberal victims.
sweet...lucky him
If it is; then the bare chested men and boys in standard LDS paintings and drawings are as well.
And which of the a-i and/or a-f items was he GUILTY of??
CLEAR??
Please: point it OUT to me; for my seeing-eye dogs just sits under my computer desk licking himself.
 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' 'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.' 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master - that's all.' Alice was too much puzzled to say anything; so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again. 'They've a temper, some of them - particularly verbs: they're the proudest - adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs - however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!' |
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.