Fellow hugged by unconventional padre is forgiven (8)
I believe the answer is:
pardoned
'is forgiven' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'fellow hugged by unconventional padre' is the wordplay.
'fellow' becomes 'don' (both can mean an academic).
'hugged by' is an insertion indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'unconventional' indicates anagramming the letters.
'padre' anagrammed gives 'pared'.
'don' going within 'pared' is 'PARDONED'.
(Other definitions for pardoned that I've seen before include "Forgiven" , "Forgave, absolved" .)