Mormon Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, the largest religious university in America, requires its students to adhere to a rigid "Honor Code"that mandates living a “chaste and virtuous life,” “clean language” and abstaining from alcohol and coffee, among other things.
Madi Barney, 20, filed a Title IX complaint against BYU with the Department of Education on Monday alleging that BYU put her on academic hold after they learned
that she reported an off-campus rape to the local police in September. Her accused rapist, 39-year-old, Nasir Seidu, has been charged with undressing her and partaking in sexual intercourse without Barney’s consent.
“Dealing with this hostile environment has been upsetting,
re-victimizing, and discouraging, to say the least,” Barney wrote on a petition with more than 87,000 signatures. “It’s clear to me that BYU is not on my side.”
The incident is controversial in Utah, with front page
coverage and an editorial in the Salt Lake Tribune critical of the
handling of this and other cases. “Without intending to, BYU has given
rapists an advantage,” the Salt Lake Tribune said in an editorial. “If a woman has crossed any of these lines, she faces a different
dynamic with a potential assailant, who can essentially say, ‘I’m doing
this, and if you tell anybody, we’re both going down.'”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/20/brigham-young-university-under-fire-for-disciplining-a-sexual-assault-victim-for-honor-code-breach/
