Non-LDS Former BYU Prof Defends Honor Code, Offers Solutions
This article appeared on April 29, 2016 in Utah Valley 360. Here is an excerpt:
In the wake of student protests calling for changes to Brigham Young University’s Honor Code, Damon Linker, former BYU assistant professor, who isn’t LDS, came to its defense.
In Linker’s opinion article, published Friday morning, he called on his experience as a BYU assistant professor of political science in the 1990s to support his opinion that BYU should keep the Honor Code to maintain high standards for its students.
“I’d be willing to bet that there simply are fewer sexual assaults at BYU than at most secular universities,” Linker wrote. “And the reason for that lower number is the Honor Code, as well as the religious and moral culture in which it is embedded.”
Though he supports the Honor Code, Linker also recognized how it “creates a strong disincentive for (sexual assault) victims to come forward,” especially with reports from Madi Barney, BYU student and rape survivor, that the Honor Code and Title IX offices shared confidential information. Linker wrote what he thinks is an “obvious” solution.