- Part moral compass and part contract, the Honor Code is a cornerstone of life for the nearly 30,000 students at the Mormon-run university. It points students, faculty and staff members toward “moral virtues encompassed in the gospel of Jesus Christ,” prizing honesty, chastity and virtue. It requires modest dress on campus and prohibits drinking, drug use, same-sex intimacy, indecency and sexual misconduct.
But after Brooke, 20, told the university that she had been raped by a fellow student at his apartment in February 2014, she said the Honor Code became a tool to punish her. She had taken LSD that night, and told the university about an earlier, coerced sexual encounter with the student who she said later raped her. Four months after reporting the assault, she got a letter from the associate dean of students.
“You are being suspended from Brigham Young University because of your violation of the Honor Code including continued illegal drug use and consensual sex, effective immediately,” the letter read.
I was a pretty devout Christian for a long time. Not Mormon I'll grant, and they have their own unique twist of crazy on the Christian ethos. I dismiss it all outright on those grounds. If you make the choice to go to BYU, stronghold of Mormon craziness, you have no right to be shocked that they consider being a victim of sexual assault equally sinful as normal premarital sex. Also I think that universities have no place in criminal proceedings in any fashion, except to expel students who have been convicted of egregious crimes in a court of law.
No, but you have a right to speak out about it. I'm not the biggest fan of Title IX and some of the attitudes surrounding sex and relationships and all that, but if you're a victim of sexual assault that's a full-stop right there. Regardless of the religious affiliation of your university, it is a crime, and should be investigated just as it would be anywhere else. What's the point of even having an outlet for people to report these kind of things if they're going to be in fear of consequences on their own end? It's suppression of reporting, if anything. If a university had no place in criminal proceedings this entire article and discussion would be moot.
This is the key difference. For some reason that is unknown to me, sexual assault is prosecuted differently when it occurs on college campuses as opposed to other parts of the world. This should not be. My voice isn't going to change anything, neither will yours, in all likelihood. I have my own dragons that need slaying. Edit* I misread your response. People should definitely be allowed to protest, and should protest thing that they think are wrong. However, it's freaking BYU. If you want to go walk up to the KKK national headquarters chanting 'Black Lives Matter' I won't stop you, but I suspect you won't change any minds. I think this is a similar problem.and should be investigated just as it would be anywhere else.