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The horror of rape or sexual assault is traumatizing enough for any victim. But for multiple young women at Brigham Young University, they claim they received backlash, instead of support, after reporting sexual violence to the school.

Brooke's nightmare began in February 2014, when she was a freshman. She said she had taken hallucinogenic drugs just before being assaulted. She was with a group of guys at an off-campus apartment. She admitted that she took the drugs voluntarily, thinking everyone else was going to do them, too. But she said she ended up being the only one.

Her voice shook slightly as she described feeling sick as the "acid" started to take effect. Then, she said, she was pulled into a bedroom.

"He started, like, touching me and stuff, so I tried to get up and leave. And then, right when I was leaving, two other guys came in and grabbed me and were like, 'You can't leave.' And then they shut the door and locked it," Brooke said.
Brooke, who does not want her last name made public, alleges that all three men "did stuff" to her. "Then the other two left, and it was just the main guy, and basically over the course of the next 45 minutes, in different ways, he raped me," she said.

When her alleged attacker left, Brooke grabbed a blanket and ran from the apartment to get help. Police responded and took her report. Ten days later, she decided not to move forward with any charges, afraid of reliving the horror over and over again through the often long and arduous trial process.

However, Brooke told her story to BYU's Title IX office, which handles student sexual harassment and sexual violence investigations. She said her rapist was a student, and she wanted to make sure he didn't victimize anyone else.

"I thought there would be some mercy, you know," Brooke said. "I told them everything, and because of the fact that I was on drugs, they used that reason to kick me out of school after reporting it."

The Honor Code
The university, which is run by the Mormon Church, determined that Brooke had violated its Honor Code, a student code of conduct and moral compass that prohibits students from engaging in on- and off-campus activities such as drug and alcohol use, premarital sex and even going into the bedroom of someone of the opposite gender. Upon enrollment, students agree to "live a chaste and virtuous life" demonstrating the values "encompassed in the gospel of Jesus Christ."

University spokeswoman Carri Jenkins adamantly defends the school's policy and treatment of alleged victims such as Brooke, saying, "A student would never, never, never have an Honor Code review for reporting sexual assaults, for being a victim of sexual assault." While Jenkins wouldn't comment on any specific case, she said it would have to be an "egregious violation" that would prompt an Honor Code investigation stemming from details revealed in a sexual violence report.
But Brooke isn't the only one who says she was disciplined after making a rape report.

Madi Barney said she, too, suffered repercussions after her police report ended up in BYU's hands.

Barney, who agreed to be named, told Provo Police of her alleged rape in September, when she was a sophomore. She had no intentions of reporting it to the university since it happened off-campus and her alleged attacker wasn't a student.

"I waited about four days to report because I was scared of my standing at BYU," Barney said. "I remember sitting at the police station, sobbing on the bench. I was just sitting there crying, saying, 'I don't want to report. I can't do this. What if BYU finds out?' "

Barney was shocked when she got a call from the university, telling her it had her police report.

While Jenkins said students "can choose to decline a Title IX investigation," Barney said she was told that if she didn't comply, the university was going to forward her case to the Honor Code office.

"I felt so angry. I mean, here she had an over-20-page police report with every little detail of the rape," Barney said. "I feel almost as violated by the school as I do by my rapist."

Barney said she's now facing backlash from BYU for not answering all its questions. Her attorney told her not to talk about details of her case until after the trial of her alleged rapist this fall. However, the university won't let her register for future classes until she cooperates with the Honor Code office.

"They like to say a victim of sexual assault will never be referred to the Honor Code office for being a victim of sexual assault," said Barney. "But they would've never known about these Honor Code allegations had I chosen not to report my rape. And I think that's what bothers me and makes me feel so betrayed."

When asked about this, Jenkins said, "BYU cannot comment on individual cases because of federal guidelines." However, she added, "every Honor Code review is done on a case-by-case basis with the facts and circumstances taken into consideration."

More victims come forward

For Madeline MacDonald, the worst part was feeling like the school didn't believe her.

She said she was sexually assaulted by a man she met online when she was a freshman at BYU in 2014. She agreed to meet him for coffee. Instead, she said, he drove her into the mountains near campus, which is in the town of Provo. Once there, he did "everything but rape" her, she said.

"He went straight up to that line, but because he didn't actually rape me, there wasn't a rape kit for me to get," MacDonald said.

When she reported her assault and met with BYU's Title IX coordinator, Sarah Westerberg, MacDonald said, the response was far from sympathetic.

"She told me, almost all, in her opinion, almost all of the reported rapes and assaults at BYU are false reports made by women that feel ... morally bad after they're having consensual activities," MacDonald recalled.

CNN made multiple requests for an interview with Westerberg, which were denied. Jenkins responded to MacDonald's claim: "I have shared this comment with Sarah Westerberg, and she has confirmed that there is no truth to this statement, nor has she ever said it to a student."

BYU's investigation eventually concluded that MacDonald was, indeed, sexually assaulted. But MacDonald left that first meeting full of self-doubt and fear.

Margot Crandall knows the feeling all too well.

While a junior at BYU in 2014, she was raped by a man who stalked her online. He had obtained an indecent photo of Crandall and blackmailed her into meeting him.

Crandall vividly remembers feeling scared of being judged, or worse, being blamed.

"I was just scared of anyone finding out. I was scared of BYU finding out," she said. "I felt really shameful about it."
She spent two years in and out of court and took a break from school to heal physically and emotionally. Her rapist was convicted in August and sentenced to five years to life in prison.

She never told BYU about her rape, but somehow the school found out, Crandall said. After the trial was over and Crandall was ready to start school again, she said, she had to sit down with the Title IX office to answer questions about her rape and show them the conviction documents.

"As soon as they found out it had gone to trial and they verified that he had been convicted, that's when they met with me and offered me the accommodations" of allowing her to withdraw and re-enroll in school, she said.

Crandall wonders whether she was treated better than others because her father is a professor at the school or because her criminal trial had already taken place. But her heart aches for other BYU sexual assault victims who weren't treated as well.

"It makes me so sick," said Crandall. "That makes me so sad."

Calls for change

The pressure is mounting on BYU to make policy changes, especially as the topic of how colleges handle sexual violence on campus has become a hot-button issue, not just in Provo but nationwide.

As of April 20, the U.S. Department of Education had 224 open sexual violence cases under investigation at 178 post-secondary institutions. There are no cases at BYU being investigated as of April.

Barney hopes to change that. She has filed a complaint against BYU with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

She also helped craft an online petition urging the university to give "immunity" to those who make sexual violence reports and not investigate them for Honor Code violations.

More than a hundred thousand people have signed the petition. Last week, dozens of current and former students gathered at BYU with members of the greater Salt Lake City community to protest, holding signs that read "BYU: Protect victims, don't shame them." They marched through campus to deliver the petition and signatures to school administrators.

Brent Webb, BYU's academic vice president, met with the group and assured them that university President Kevin Worthen is committed "to study this issue carefully and welcomes input both within the university and outside."

Jenkins said the study will look at the relationship between the Title IX office and the Honor Code office. "We want to look at whether and how information is shared. We want to look at the perception students have," she said.

"It's not a perception. It's something that is actually happening, and that's them, again, not believing us," Barney said. "They need to take accountability. They need to say, 'Yeah, we screwed up, but we're going to fix it.' "

BBC News wrote: What are US university 'honour codes'?
By Jasmine Taylor-Coleman
BBC News, Washington DC
1 May 2016
From the section Magazine


When a young American woman told police she had been raped, her university started to investigate whether she had violated its "honour code" before the attack took place. At some US colleges even having a man in your room or drinking alcohol is an offence. What is an "honour code" and how is it supposed to work?

Madi Barney was so terrified she would be thrown out of Brigham Young University (BYU) she waited four days to tell police in the city of Provo, Utah, that she had been raped in her own flat.

"I just remember sobbing and telling the police officer I couldn't go forward because BYU was going to kick me out," Barney, 20, told the New York Times.
Her fears were borne out when she was summoned to the university weeks later. She learned her police file had been passed to university officials and they had launched an investigation into "honour code" violations.

BYU is a Mormon college, and in order to enroll there Barney had signed up to a strict code of conduct. Very few US universities have expectations so misaligned with mainstream culture.
Brigham Young University Honor Code
"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men... If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."
Be honest
Live a chaste and virtuous life
Obey the law and all campus policies
Use clean language
Respect others
Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse
Participate regularly in church services
Observe dress and grooming standards
Encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code

By committing to the honour code, students promise not to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes or take illegal drugs. They must refrain from drinking tea or coffee or wearing skirts or shorts above knee-length. And unmarried students must not have sex - even having a member of the opposite sex in their room is a serious offence.

Barney says was told she could not register for any future classes at BYU while its inquiry into her honour code violations was pending. When she complained publicly about her treatment, several other female students said they too had been subjected to investigations after reporting sexual abuse.

This sparked protests at the BYU and a US-wide debate about how victims of rape or sexual assault are dealt with on religiously conservative campuses.
Teresa Fishman, head of the US-based International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI), describes BYU's honour code as "an extreme case", which is "misaligned with mainstream culture". Most US universities have an honour code to uphold ideals of honesty academic fair-play, rather than a dress code or sexual abstinence, she says.

The first honour code dates back to 1736, adopted by the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. During enrolment week, entering students still gather in the university's Great Hall and pledge not to lie, cheat or steal.

As most of America's earliest higher education colleges were founded by religious denominations, many codes have a "distinctly moral" focus, says Fishman. When they work, they can help students feel a part of their university system and encourage a process of self-policing, she adds.

Under Princeton's honour system, in place since 1893, professors leave the room during exams - trusting students not to cheat and to report anyone who does. This system of students turning in others is a core principle of honour codes in most institutions. The accused will normally go before a panel of peers or faculty members, which then decides on a verdict and a punishment ranging from community service to suspension or complete expulsion.

Despite a number of cheating scandals at US universities in recent years, Linda Trevino, a professor of organisational behaviour and ethics at the Pennsylvania State University, says that over the past 20 years, honour codes have had a positive effect. How well they work depends on whether they become "integral to the culture", she adds.

Some universities have adopted new honour codes as they struggle with preventing students from copying information from the internet. Harvard University introduced a more formal code last year after dozens of students were suspended for cheating.

Not all US universities have an honour code. And only a handful of privately run institutions, such as BYU, use the code to demand students live in accordance with religious beliefs. Harvard, with a motto "veritas", meaning truth, is making its students take a pledge of honesty.

Liberty University, a Baptist university in Virginia, has a code of conduct called The Liberty Way, which limits students' hairstyles, clothes and any public displays of affection. Also against the rules are sexual relations "outside of a biblical ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman".
Other universities, including the Southern Virginia University and BYU, espouse the teachings of the Mormon church, and this is reflected in their honour codes (which apply even to students who are not active members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).

BYU's strict code has created headlines in the past, with basketball star Brandon Davies expelled in 2011 for having sex with his girlfriend.

The latest news about the treatment of sexual abuse victims has stirred up an even greater controversy.
Most outsiders see disciplining a student who has already suffered sexual assault as unnecessary punishment of the victim, says Ryan Cragun, a sociologist who specialises in Mormonism at the University of Tampa.
However the university's Mormon administration separates the events - the student is not considered at fault for rape, but she is at fault for being intimate with a man, he says.

It comes down to the university interpreting its code to the letter, he says, rather than considering the overall aim to help and protect students.
BYU President Kevin Worthen has admitted a "tension" created by the honour code system and announced a review, following the protests at the university.
In a petition that has attracted more than 111,000 signatures, Madi Barney calls for immunity for students reporting attacks.
Her main objective is simply this: "I don't want anyone to have to go through what I'm experiencing."