I’m gonna need you all to signal boost this
Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah is my alma mater. Recently, they held a rape awareness conference on campus in which the Title IX officer said that any rapes or sexual assaults reported to the Title IX office would also be referred to the Honor Code office, and that “we do not apologize for that.” BYU has a very strict Honor Code that prohibits students from drinking, being out past midnight, being in the bedroom of a member of the opposite sex, and any sexual contact beyond kissing. If the Honor Code office finds out that a student participated in any of these activities, they can be expelled. Almost half the students at BYU work on campus, so being expelled can also mean losing your job. And since students are required to live in housing that abides by the same Honor Code standards, it can also mean losing your home.
I had a roommate at BYU who was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend. When she told our ecclesiastical leader about it, he told her that she shouldn’t have gone that far with her boyfriend in the first place and placed her on ecclesiastical probation. He also told her that if she reported the assault, she would probably be expelled.
Recently, the Salt Lake Tribune ran a story about other women who have been punished by the Honor Code office for reporting a rape or sexual assault. Some of them were breaking the rules when it happened; others were referred to the Honor Code office simply for being sexually assaulted.
Victims of sexual assault at BYU are being asked to prove their purity in order to report a crime. If women feel pressured, because of fear of recrimination, to not report sexual assaults, then BYU has a moral as well as a legal problem.
Please contact BYU’s Title IX officer to express your disgust with the policy of Title IX reports being referred to the Honor Code office and demand that the policy be changed immediately:
Sarah Westerberg - Associate Dean of Students, Title IX Compliance
Don’t let them get away with this
