Students and Graduates of Brigham Young University Call for a More Tolerant Code of Honor

April 4, 2019, 22:28 GMT

By Caroline Radnofsky

A graduate of the Brigham Young University of Utah, a private university belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wanted to give students a way to voice their concerns about of the school's system of honor codes after what she had described as her bad experiences. .

Sidney Draughon waited until she graduated last fall because, she says, as a student, "People do not talk about the code of honor, you can not talk about the code of honor. "

In January, she opened an Instagram account called Honor Code Stories, which became a forum for current and former BYU students to anonymously share their experiences of being reprimanded by the Honor Code Office of l & # 39; school.

It already has more than 19,000 followers.

A separate online petition calling on the university to update its code of honor system garnered nearly 11,000 signatures on Thursday.

Draughon said his own experience with the Honor Code office was in his first year.

She said she was summoned to the office and put on probation for a year for an old social media photo in which she was "dressed immodestly" and for a rude joke that she had preferred on Twitter years ago about beautiful men from the Mormon Church.

The statement of the code of honor on the BYU website calls on students to "live a chaste and virtuous life", to "use plain language" and to "observe standards of dress and cleanliness" , among other standards.

Draughon, who now lives and works in New York, said the students signed a pledge when they entered the university to uphold the code of honor, which she said had meaning.

"We have to be consistent with the activities of our church, which makes sense for a religious institution.I would not ask for much less than that," said Draughon, who stated that she had been raised in Mormon but that his family had left the church ever since. .

"But there is so much more behind this code and its application, and we do not realize what we are signing," she said. "It's not so much for you as for God and your church, it's also this office, located on the 4th floor of the Wilkinson Center – that's where you will repent."

NBC News contacted BYU and a university spokesperson responded by email.

"Although we do not have an official statement for you, we are aware of the anonymous posts on the Instagram account you mentioned," the spokesman said. "I would add that we are always looking for our students' ideas."

NBC News has not independently verified the submitted stories on the Instagram account.

A post written by a person who identified himself as a former student said, "I was suspended for three semesters for suicide attempt because my attempt involved alcohol and pills."

The person went on to a meeting at the university: "I was supposed to" explain myself "and I had just come out of the psychiatry room, and I had to go to school. just sobbed and sobbed while talking to me as if I were a stupid child "-student added.

Another person asserted in a message that she had been violently sexually assaulted after a date, but was afraid to report the assault because her presence in the unidentified assailant's room could be considered as a violation of the code of honor.

Draughon said that it was impossible to independently verify every story posted on the Instagram account. But she said that she recognizes details in other people's stories from her own experience, for example students who interact with the office are assigned a code of honor advisor and the number of days they would wait for an appointment.

She added that during her probationary period, she was scheduled to attend regular meetings with a Code of Honor Advisor – every two weeks, then every month.

She claims that during her meeting with the Honor Code Office, the old photo and the tweet that she had favored on social media had been blown up on 8.5-pound sheets of paper. on 11 inches.

"It was a raw tweet and a shameless photo," said Draughon. "If I had been perfect, I would not have done it."

But she said that during her probation and her meetings with the honor code advisor, "You talk about your regrets over and over again, you write journal entries on repentance." For something that happened years ago, it seems so small. "

"But if you want to stay in school, you have to say that," she says.

Draughon said that she loved her church and her alma mater, but that she was disturbed by the apparent power of the office of the code of honor, a non-ecclesiastical authority, allegedly exercised.

"It's not so much about you, about God, about your church, it's about this office," she said. & # 39; C & # 39; is where you will repent. "

The online petition calls BYU to update the code of honor to indicate that "not everyone has the same standards of morality, health and grooming and that children aged 18 to 22 make mistakes ". An updated code would eliminate the office of the code of honor, as students would learn lessons "in a loving environment without looking over their shoulder".