BYU: You didn't used to be cool man.

I did not always think that. In fact, I found it to be a rather uncool and uncomfortable institution. The campus was constantly marred by construction projects and crowds between classes. I'm pretty sure that I would have been more comfortable doing 20 to life in Folsom than 90 minutes in the MARB. Of course, there were good parts. It was academically challenging. Some of my professors were truly great. My particular favorites were Fred Williams, Kit Lund, and Stan Taylor. But this doesn't make it cool as an institution.

That said, my opinion changed slightly this week. I got an email from my cousin John. He is one of the most fascinating people I know and possesses a bit of a wandering spirit. For 15 years he has only had 3 credits to complete to graduate. This week he called BYU to see about finishing. After explaining his situation, the person on the other end of the phone said: "Oh, we sent you a letter four years ago but it came back. We changed our policy. You're done. Would you like to graduate in June or in August?"

Cool... but not that cool? Let me provide some context. My father left Cal State Long Beach in the 1970's with 3 credits to go. Encouraged by Steven Spielberg's return to the same institution (and the fact that his employer would pay tuition), my father determined to go back to school. The first thing he learned was that after 10 years, your credits expire and you have to either do it over or have your credits recertified by the particular department. It took him 2 years to get to the point where he could finally start taking classes. In one case, a head of department refused to recertify his credits. What did he do? He waited until the guy was replaced and went to the new guy. It then took him another 2 years to complete the coursework. He finally graduated 40 years after he started college. The fact of the graduation was cool, but the institution was decidedly uncool.

Did Mr. Spielberg have to go through the red tape? Of course not. They gave him credit for his work experience. (They refused to do this for my father even though he presented ample evidence.) That's right, Schindler's List was considered one of his student projects. Of course in some ways it was a typical student project. With a budget of $25 million, box office receipts of $317 million worldwide, and 7 Academy Awards it was obviously just a learning experience. Let's just hope he does better in the real world.