Sexual assault victim punished by Brigham Young University under Honor Code

Brigham Young University (BYU), affiliated with the Church of the Latter Day Saints or Mormons, is the largest religious university in the United States. Its main campus is in Provo, Utah.

 

All students who attend whatever their religion must adhere to an "Honor Code" that includes "living a chaste and virtuous life," using "clean language" and not drinking alcohol or even coffee. Of course, premarital sex is not permissible. Some students at the university complain that the "honor code" is being used by administrators against sexual assault victims. The code may also serve to keep victims from reporting sexual attacks.

Madi Barney, 20, told the Huffington Post that she filed a Title IX complaint against BYU with the Department of Education. The complaint alleges that the university put her on academic hold after they learned she had reported an off-campus rape to local police last September.

Title IX is a portion of the United States Education Amendments of 1972. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act after the now-deceased co-author and sponsor of the act. It says in part:No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.In April 2011, a letter was issued by the Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights that said in part: "The sexual harassment of students, including sexual violence, interferes with students' right to receive an education free from discrimination and, in the case of sexual violence, is a crime."

Her accused rapist, Nasir Seidu, 39, has been charged with undressing Barney and engaging in sexual intercourse without her consent. However Seidu told police that the sex was consensual.

According to Utah County authorities, Seidu was at an apartment with Burney back in September of 2015. Documents indicate Seidu and Barney began to "engage in consensual sexual relations" when the victim became uncomfortable and said she wanted to stop. It was then that Seidu allegedly undressed and raped her. The assault was off-campus and Seidu is not a student at BYU.

Barney did not report the incident to the BYU. However, without Barney's knowledge or permission, Utah County Deputy Sherrif Edwin Randoph, a former women's track coach at the school passed the police file on to BYU. The school than began an Honor Code investigation against Barney. A BYU Title IX coordinator wrote to Barney: “We have received information that you have been a victim of behavior that is addressed in the university Sexual Misconduct Policy. We have also received information that you have engaged in behavior that violates the BYU Honor Code.”Barney's lawyer advised her not to partake in the Honor Code investigation as it could impact her criminal case. When she followed his advice the school responded by blocking her from both registering and withdrawing from classes.

Barney wrote on a petition that has more than 87,000 signatures: “Dealing with this hostile environment has been upsetting, re-victimizing, and discouraging, to say the least. It’s clear to me that BYU is not on my side.” The petition called on the BYU to give immunity to sexual assault victims. This would allow victims to report their experiences without worrying that they will face a separate investigation into their own behavior. She claimed that her own experiences were not unique that other women have been put on probation or even expelled "for circumstances of their rapes and sexual assaults."

BYU President Kevin Worthen agreed that there was an "inherent tension" between Title IX and the Honor Code provisions but said: “A victim of a sexual assault will never be referred to the Honor Code Office for being a victim of sexual assault. Sometimes in the course of an investigation, facts come to light that a victim has engaged in prior Honor Code violations.” Barney has claimed that the school has not informed her of which rule of the code she broke. Carri Jenkins, spokesperson for BYU told NBC: “I can assure you that we would never put a hold on a student’s registration because she reported her rape to the police.”

Although Seidu was arrested and charged with rape, he is also being charged with retaliation. Officers said Seidu's friends gave the police report to BYU.

Demonstrations at Brigham Young University

This is copied from Huffington Post. It seems that restrictions on demonstrations are becoming more and more prevalent in the US--elsewhere too. When I was in the Philippines I was surprised that a lot of demonstrators just took it for granted that the state did not have any right to regulate their demonstrations except to stop violence. Demonstrations regularly challenged attempts to even require permits!


Free Speech Closes Early At BYU ()
READ MORE: Dick Cheney, Bryan Young, U.S. Democratic Party
The campus of Brigham Young University was electric with controversy today as it was the site of two protests surrounding Dick Cheney's upcoming visit to speak at their commencement ceremony.

On one end of campus were the "anti-Cheney" demonstrators sponsored by the BYU Democrats. Between 100 and 200 strong at any given time, students and faculty members raised signs displaying their distaste for the policies espoused by Dick Cheney such as war profiteering, torture, preemptive war, lying, using the "f-word", lying, etc.


BYU had "given them permission" to voice their opinions. Well, not really "voice" their opinions, BYU said they could sit down on some side walks and hold up signs, just not shout chants or yell anything. And they only had until 1:00pm to do it. Having received permission to protest, the ecstatic students remained peaceful and sat inside BYU's designated "free speech" zone in the middle of campus. Over the entire three hour demonstration it was estimated that 700-800 faculty and students were able to participate.

In the mix was an assortment of students and familiar faces. Steven Jones, the physics professor at BYU who retired amid controversy about his research into the 9/11 attacks, was on hand and spoke to us about his distaste with the Bush administration. Joe Vogel, who was once the Student Body Vice President at Utah Valley State College (UVSC) in 2004 when he invited Michael Moore to speak and was then forced to resign over the ensuing controversy, was there to register his dissenting voice in the growing cacophony of protest. Joe is now a masters student at BYU and part of the faculty.

On the other end of campus were the "pro-BYU" demonstrators sponsored by the College Republicans. Between 15 and 30 strong, students and faculty members passed out free cookies, lemonade and cake and played football, all in support of BYU's decision to bring Dick Cheney to campus. They remained peaceful and had a good time eating cake.

The protests seem to go off without a hitch until things started winding down. NPR left. The local TV news cameras left. The newspaper reporters packed their things and left. And the only people around to document anything were students and our film crew. Our cameras kept rolling to witness what happened next.

As soon as 1:00 hit and the time for free speech expired, after an impromptu performance of the Star Spangled Banner by the BYU Democrats, men from BYU dressed in suits and sunglasses with Secret Service-style earpieces roughly rounded up all of the signage and banners. "You'll be able to use it all again. We're just going to keep it for you. So you don't carry it around campus, we'll take it to a safe place until the next designated protest."

It was like Daddy deciding that the kids had had enough play time and was taking their toys away.

Students we spoke to, on camera, were understandably livid. "I'm a student, but I'm not with the Democrats and that sign is my personal property," a disconcerted student told us, "What they're saying is they don't want any disruptions on campus and 'free speech time' is over until they say so."

And then the real debates began. Students and faculty on both sides of the issue met face to face and things began to get heated and that is when we felt taps on our shoulders.

It turns out, as it was explained to me, that documentarians, according to BYU, are not legitimate journalists. Because we wish to show the news we have to report on a theatre screen or a DVD, our aims don't actually count as news.

We rolled a lot of footage at today's events. Hours and hours of footage. Hopefully, we're making a follow-up documentary to This Divided State. But, if BYU has anything to do with it, you won't be able to see it. Free speech at BYU is open for business. But only from 11:00am til 1:00pm, two days only.

As usual, we'll be following everything on our blog and we're going to try to get some footage of this up as a taste of what's to come soon.