Colorado Mesa University Offers to Replace Diplomas After Spelling Them Wrong Since 2012

It’s a good thing this college in Colorado isn't graded for its spelling.

Colorado Mesa University is offering replacement diplomas after a 2018 graduate noticed the document marking his completion of higher education was apparently signed by the “Coard” of Trustees.

"There was this moment of laughing at it and kind of being baffled by it, and the more I thought about it, the more frustrated I got, because I'm sitting on $30,000 worth of debt and they can't take the time to use spellcheck,” said Alec Williams in an interview with the Daily Sentinel.

Fellow graduate Jake Wellborn said, "It's just kind of goofy. I laughed when I saw it, because I can't believe I didn't notice it. But it is really small."

After Williams took to Twitter with his frustration, the Colorado Mesa University launched an investigation and discovered they have been misspelling the word, which could be seen on the bottom left corner of the document, since 2012, affecting 9,188 diplomas.

“We tend to cut and paste, and that has its weaknesses,” CMU President Tim Foster said.

The school vowed to replace every diploma upon request — which would cost the institution nearly $46,000.

"It's not the end of the world, but it's a diploma and it's a representation of what they've earned, so it's a shame," Foster said. "I wish it had never happened.”

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