Honor Code

SELECTED CLARIFICATIONS OF THE HONOR CODE

Definition of Student
All students, once admitted to BYU, are required to observe the standards of the Honor Code whether on or off campus. When the Honor Code Office (HCO) receives reports of misconduct prior to the prospective students' admission or readmission, those reports are referred to the Admissions Office for appropriate action. When the HCO receives reports of student misconduct after admission or readmission, but before registration, the HCO notifies the students of the receipt of the referral, indicating that a hold will be placed on the students' registration if the matter is not resolved to the satisfaction of the Honor Code Office by a specified date.

Drugs
Suspension or dismissal on first offense, except when the only contact with a drug was limited and where the student has repented before disciplinary action is begun.

Overnight Activities for Mixed Groups of Young Single Adults
Overnight activities for mixed young, single adult groups are not approved. Stake presidents and bishops may grant exceptions where segregated housing is provided. Using Church meetinghouses and grounds or sports malls, gyms, or other commercial buildings for Church-sponsored, overnight activities is not approved.

Source: LDS Church Bulletin, 1993-1.

Sexual Transgressions
School authorities may dismiss students for sexual transgressions independent of action by a Church Disciplinary Council.

No one known to be guilty of overt and active homosexual conduct is to be enrolled or permitted to remain at Church Educational System (CES) campuses as students, but the following conduct is not to be treated as "overt and active" for the purpose of this policy:

1. Persons who have repented of evil acts and totally forsaken them for a suitable lengthy period of time
2. Persons who have been guilty of irregular sexual behavior not equivalent to fornication or adultery and who are repentant and show evidence that their irregularities will not be repeated

The retention or dismissal of students should be a matter of decision on an individual basis by the administration, after considering the nature and duration of involvement, the circumstances of the student's work at the institution, and the recommendation of the ecclesiastical officer having jurisdiction over the case.

SELECTED CLARIFICATIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION PROCEDURE

Communication Between Honor Code Office Personnel and Church Leaders
When a student is faced with the likelihood of suspension or dismissal, school authorities should contact the student's bishop and/ or stake president before final action.

Confidential Communications
Church leaders should not submit written communications to school authorities on confidential matters. Church leaders may invite students voluntarily to confess transgressions to school authorities as part of repentance.

If a student poses a serious threat to other students, a bishop should, after clearance with his stake president, advise the school authorities that he can no longer endorse the enrollment of the student at a CES campus. In cases where the student poses a serious, substantial, and immediate threat to himself or to others in the university community, the bishop may advise school authorities of the reasons why endorsement was withdrawn.

Church Disciplinary Council Action
When a student is disfellowshipped or excommunicated, Church leaders are to notify school authorities. In these instances, suspension from school is virtually automatic, although the president of the school has authority to authorize exceptions under rare circumstances to the end of the current term. The school generally suspends disfellowshipped and excommunicated students because acts leading to these Church penalties generally far exceed the bounds of the school's Honor Code.

Except for rare circumstances authorized by the president of the school, admission is denied to prospective students who have been excommunicated or disfellowshipped and have not been reinstated.

Formal Disaffiliation With the Church
Requests from students who wish to have their names deleted from Church records must be handled by bishops, in consultation with stake presidents. Removal of one's name from Church records or formally joining another church will generally result in withdrawal of ecclesiastical endorsements and in discontinuance of enrollment from the university. Former members of the Church are in a separate category from nonmembers and, therefore, reentry into the Church will thereafter be a condition for readmission to BYU.

Source: Approved March 3, 1993 by BYU Board of Trustees.

Authority to Require Suspension or Dismissal from School
Church leaders should be advised that only school authorities may require suspension or dismissal from school. They should also be advised that school officials are authorized to suspend or dismiss students for all serious transgressions.

Preadmission Interviews
In view of increasing enrollment pressures, local leaders should be advised not to endorse the application of a prospective student who, with regards to moral worthiness or the Word of Wisdom, is guilty of a previous unrepented transgression. Repentance should be demonstrated over an appropriate length of time.

Church Disciplinary Council Instructions
These instructions should note that enrollment at a church college or university is not open to disfellowshipped or excommunicated persons prior to their reinstatement.

Continuing Student Ecclesiastical Endorsement Interviews
Bishops of student wards should be directed by their stake presidents to interview each student at least once each academic year to verify that the student continues to be worthy to be enrolled at a Church school. The bishop should refer to the Honor Code, including the Dress and Grooming Standards and Residential Living Standards, in the interview. The continuing student endorsement will help ensure that students who are active Church members are not excluded through enrollment ceilings while inactive members enjoy the blessings of attending Church schools. Bishops should consider faithful attendance at Church meetings as one factor in the endorsement process even though no required percentage of attendance has been specified. Bishops should include the following question in endorsement interviews: "Have you done and will you continue to do your duty in the Church, attend your meetings, and abide by the rules and standards of the Church?" Students who have not been endorsed may not register for university or college classes for the next academic year.

When the bishop finds a major transgression, he should encourage repentance. Circumstances may be serious enough that the bishop could counsel the student to withdraw from school and return home as part of Church disciplinary action short of a Church Disciplinary Council or as part of a Church Disciplinary Council probation. If the student resists this counsel and is an unusually serious threat to others in the school community, the bishop should notify school officials, in accordance with the existing Confidential Communications policy described in this electronic manual.

If the student resists the counsel to withdraw from school, but the bishop does not consider the student an unusually serious threat, the bishop may still elect to withdraw his endorsement of continued enrollment. This is done by notifying school officials that the endorsement has been withdrawn. No other information need be given if the bishop's information was obtained confidentially. School officials will then notify the student and give an opportunity for a hearing in accordance with existing Student Life hearing procedures. The appropriate school officials will then determine whether the student's enrollment may continue through that term, taking into consideration the bishop's recommendation. The student would generally not be allowed to enroll for another term until he or she again receives an ecclesiastical endorsement.

Nonconfidential Communications
Church leaders, housing officials, and others should be invited to advise school authorities when they learn through nonconfidential sources of serious standards violations, such as students spending the night with the opposite sex, homosexual activity, uses of drugs, alcohol, and so forth. However, Church leaders should be encouraged to use discretion in cases where the reporting of such violations would undermine the bishop's confidential role with his ward members. Enforcement practices that may seriously invade the privacy of students in housing areas, etc., should also be avoided.

Source: Selected Clarification of the Code of Honor and Related Procedures for CES Institutions of Higher Education, September 7, 1983.