Excommunicated Education

Chad Hardy wanted to change the image of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (a.k.a. the Mormon church, a.k.a. the Church That a Con Man Built) by creating a calendar of hunky, shirtless missionaries. For this, he was excommunicated. Considering the controversy dramatically increased sales of his calendar and not being a Mormon means you don't have to wear the magic underpants, this would seem like a win-win. Unfortunately, Hardy was also a student at Brigham Young University, whose moral conduct code considers any excommunicated student to not be in good standing with the school. So, even though Hardy has completed his degree, BYU won't give him his diploma. I know what it's like to be at the mercy of your school. ICS wouldn't give me my double degree in hotel/restaurant management and gun repair until I released Sally Struthers from my basement. I said "sex game", they said "hostage situation". It all worked out eventually. But Hardy won't have it so easy. Unless he's somehow allowed back into the church, BYU can sit on his diploma with their magic underpantsed backsides. Let that be a warning to any other BYU students who might want to one day live a normal life of caffeine-fueled heresy. More details here.