SALT LAKE CITY ― Students at Brigham Young University who report sexual assault will no longer be investigated for possible violations of the strict honor code that bans drinking and premarital sex, the Mormon-owned school announced in a major reversal to a practice that drew widespread scrutiny.
The college on Wednesday accepted several recommendations made by a faculty council that reviewed how sexual assault cases are handled. The inquiry began in May after female students and alumni spoke out against the school opening honor-code investigations of students who report abuses.
Victims advocates said the practice discourages reporting of sexual violence, which is already underreported on campuses nationwide. The sweeping changes mark a victory for victims and advocates who have been seeking reform for years and serve as a university acknowledgement that its practices were deficient.
Two former students who went public with their experiences said they are mostly pleased with the upcoming changes at the school, where students must agree to a code forbidding sex before marriage and drug and alcohol use.
“By having an amnesty clause, we hopefully will let them know that they should not hold any self-blame, that we are here to provide help to them,” said Julie Valentine, a nursing professor who was on the council issuing the recommendations. “It also helps educate the whole community and the campus that we can’t have victim blaming, that we need to reach out and offer support.”
The school said in April that its honor-code investigations were “separate and independent” from federal Title IX inquiries. But its investigation found that the Title IX office on campus sometimes shared victims’ names and details of assaults with the honor-code office after the probes were complete, Valentine said.
Now, only information about a perpetrator who is found guilty of sexual assault can be shared, she said. In those cases, the victim’s name will be redacted so only the suspect faces honor-code discipline.
