To whom it may concern:
President Stephen L Richards said: “The Savior himself declared that he came to fulfill the law, not to
do away with it, but with the law he brought the principle of mercy to temper its enforcement, and to
bring hope and encouragement to [the] offenders for forgiveness through [mercy and] repentance.”
To this aim, we ​the students of BYU, in order to restore honor to the Honor Code and its
enforcement, respectfully request the following changes to the university’s Honor Code policies
and practices.

Elevate Counselor Standards
To ensure a positive student experience:
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Include a licensed psychologist in every HCO council decision.
Actively work to diversify staff in future hiring opportunities to be more
representative of students at the university.
Require HCO employees, including counselors, administrators, and office staff to
undergo the following annually:
i.
Diversity & Cultural Competency
ii.
Victim Advocacy
iii.
Trauma Informed Interviewing
Do not refer to administrative staff members as “counselors” unless they have
relevant state licenses.
Establish a regular university review of counselors and policy implementation that
includes student input.
Prohibit inappropriate questioning that harms student’s mental health, as determined
by Trauma Informed Interviewing training and on-staff, trained psychological
counselors.
i.
These damaging, invasive, and unnecessary questions include, but are not
limited to:
● Graphic or invasive sexual questions.
● Requirements to divulge sexual orientation of self or others.
● Level or intensity of spiritual practice

Prevent Discrimination
To protect minorities and the marginalized:
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Replace the Homosexual Behavior Clause with the following anti-discrimination
clause:
“BYU values and celebrates the diversity of its students. Any
behavior or language that discriminates against or negatively
targets anyone based on their race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual
orientation, gender identity, class, or religion is unacceptable and
a violation of the Honor Code. Homophobic, sexist, or racist slurs
and disparaging remarks are not tolerated.”

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Treat violations of the Law of Chastity equally, whether homosexual or heterosexual,
in order to reflect church policy.
i.
Only acts considered to be an Honor Code violation in a heterosexual
relationship will be considered an Honor Code violation in a homosexual
relationship.
ii.
For instance: homosexual hand-holding, dating, kissing will not be against
the Honor Code.
Update Dress and Grooming Standards.
i.
Remove any culturally insensitive or non-accommodating dress and
grooming requirements; for example, prohibition of traditional hairstyles.
ii.
Prohibit Honor Code Office from enforcing Dress and Grooming standards in
a discriminatory manner towards students of color or LGBTQ students.

Enable Advocacy and Empowerment for Students
To educate and protect:
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Students will have the right to present their case to the Honor Council during the
decision process.
Adopt a Third-Party Advocacy Clause
i.
This clause grants students the right to third party advocate(s) in any and all
Honor Code Office meetings, interactions, and/or investigations.
Include a segment in New Student Orientation educating students on Honor Code
Office procedures, policies, and processes.
Organize an independent student support group (perhaps nominated through
colleges.)
i.
The support group will be available to help students as they interact with the
Honor Code Office by providing:
● Information about the Honor Code Office processes, rules, rights and
more.
● A safe space for students to receive emotional support throughout the
decision and punishment process.
● Ongoing dialogue with minority groups on campus to avoid systemic
targeting.
Release (or publicly publish) a report summarizing Honor Code data to the general
public and student population regarding the following:
i.
How many students are investigated each year.
ii.
Number of investigations/type of violations.
iii.
Number found guilty, not guilty, or other.
iv.
Aggregate demographic data for (race, gender, ethnicity, marital status, etc):
number of allegations, found guilty/not guilty, disciplined, etc.
v.
The duration of each investigation.
vi.
How many students are disciplined, suspended, put on probation, and/or
expelled each year.
vii.
Publish full internal list of possible Honor Code violations.
Review Honor Code report to ensure that minority groups and women are treated
equitably to majority groups and men.

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Publish a simplified outline of the HC investigation process and student rights on the
Honor Code website.

Promote Accountability
To foster trust between students and the HCO:
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Conduct an internal review of the HCO after the style of the Title IX office.
Establish a rating system similar to course ratings to get anonymous and current
feedback on HCO counselors.
Clarify or remove vague and subjective parts of the Honor Code. Examples include
but are not limited to:
i.
“...any other conduct or action inconsistent with the principles of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Honor Code is not permitted.”
ii.
“LDS students must fulfill their duty in The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints.”
iii.
“Generally, the university will follow the procedural guidelines as outlined in
this document. However, the procedures set forth in this document are merely
guidelines and are not intended to create any contractual obligations or
expectations. The university reserves the right, at its discretion, to vary from
these procedures according to the circumstances of individual matters”

Educate Students on their Rights
To inform and empower:
○ Read students the following rights ​before​ beginning the disciplinary process:
i. Right to request a counselor of a certain gender.
ii. Right to know the identity of the accuser (barring situations involving abuse
iii.
iv.
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vi.
vii.
viii.
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or violence).
Right to read a report of your accusation before meeting with the Honor Code
Office.
Right to third party character witness/support throughout the process:
● including but not limited to: peer, faculty member, or family member.
Right to expert witness/support throughout the process:
● including but not limited to: therapist, other mental health
professional, etc.
Right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty
Right to record meetings on an audio recording device.
Right to see your personal Honor Code Office file.
Right to view Counselor Code of Conduct.

Separate Academic Enforcement from Ecclesiastical Counsel
To maintain confidence of students in ecclesiastical leaders:
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Keep student/bishop disclosures private and unrelated to the actions of the Honor
Code Office.
i.
Bishops’ interviews will never put a student at risk of expulsion, barring
situations of dangerous or illegal conduct that must be reported to police.
ii.
End the practice of pressuring students to waive bishop confidentiality.

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Allow bishops to serve as an advocate or character witness in any HCO investigation
per student’s signed, personal request to do so.
Discourage bishops from involving the HCO in the repentance process.

Improve Reporting Integrity
To promote a more Christlike environment at BYU:
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Do not accept reports of Honor Code violations that occurred before the student was
admitted.
Establish a procedure to identify intent and motivation behind third party reporting,
and consider the relationship between accuser and accused.
Offer more leniency to those who self-report.

Diversify Correctional Options
To keep the HCO’s disciplinary processes proportional to the violation:
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Distinguish on record and in punishment between academic and non-academic
violations.
Set maximum punishments for each tier of violation.
i.
Honor code counselors should rarely impose the maximum punishment.
Allow students to work with their counselor to establish a contextually appropriate
plan to correct behavior; i.e., a student can choose a spiritual or service oriented plan.
Do not enforce academic punishment for a first-time non-academic violation.
i.
Subsequent violations can involve escalation of punishment.

Update Policies
To prevent penalization for innocuous acts:
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Eliminate academic punishment for bathroom use in opposite-sex apartments.
Update antiquated dress and grooming standards, such as:
i.
Forbidding facial hair.
ii.
Forbidding tight-fitting clothes, such as leggings.
Schedule for regular revisions to the Honor Code, incorporating student input so as to
avoid outdated policies in the future.

Establish a Path to Non-Religious Attendance at BYU
To accommodate religious diversity:
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Allow students who may struggle with or lose their faith in the LDS religion while at
BYU to request an ecclesiastical endorsement from their choice of ecclesiastical
leader, whether that be an LDS bishop or a leader of a different faith.
Permit students who leave the LDS church to continue with their education at BYU,
should they choose to, and pay non-LDS tuition fees.

Elder Uchtdorf said, “​My beloved friends, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if we ever find
ourselves living in fear or anxiety, or if we ever find that our own words, attitudes, or actions are
causing fear in others, I pray with all the strength of my soul that we may become liberated from this

 fear by the divinely appointed antidote to fear: the pure love of Christ, for “perfect love casteth out
fear.”
In addition, ​President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., testified: “You know, I believe that the Lord will help us...
I believe he will answer our prayers. I believe that our Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his
children. I do not think he intends to shut any of us off because of some slight transgression, some
slight failure to observe some rule or regulation.”
We hope that working together, we the students, with the administration can cast out all fear,
and make BYU a place full of the love of Christ.