Madi Thoele, 4th Period: BYU Students Punished After Reporting Sexual Assault

Summary: Too many women from Brigham Young University claim they receive only punishment after reporting sexual violence to the school.
Brooke (she does not want to disclose her last name) was raped in February of 2014, when she was a freshman. She was with a group of boys at an off-campus apartment and took hallucinogens voluntarily, thinking everyone else was going to do them, but turned out being the only one. She was then pulled into a bedroom. All 3 men assaulted her and 1 raped her. Brooke reported the case to the police, but 10 days later, she decided not to press charges, afraid of having to suffer through a long trial process. Brooke, however, did tell BYU's Title IX office, which deals with student sexual harassment and sexual violence. Her rapist was a student, and she wanted to keep the other students safe. "Because of the fact that I was on drugs, they used that reason to kick me out of school after reporting it", she said. The Mormon university said Brooke violated its Honor Code, a student code of conduct that bans things like drug and alcohol use, premarital sex, and going into the bedroom of someone of the opposite gender, all on and off campus.
University spokeswoman Carri Jenkins defends the policy. "A student would never, never, never have an Honor Code review for reporting sexual assaults, for being a victim of sexual assault." She said it would have to be an "egregious violation" that would create an Honor Code investigation from details of a report of sexual violence.
Sophomore Madi Barney, freshman Madeline MacDonald, and junior Margot Crandall all had similar experiences dealing with the Title IX office when reporting sexual assault/rape. Barney has filed a complaint against BYU with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. She also made an online petition wanting BYU to give "immunity" to those who make sexual violence reports and forbid investigating them for Honor Code violations. More than a 100,000 people have signed the petition. Last week, current and former students gathered at the school in protest, holding signs. They marched through BYU to deliver the petition to administrators.

Analysis: It's so upsetting to hear the countless cases where victims don't get the support they need from BYU. What's even worse is that not only are they not supported, but they're punished and even kicked out for it. This can be synthesized to the time directly following the Civil War. When slavery was abolished, the Freedmen's Bureau was established, which helped African Americans with food, clothes, and jobs. Unfortunately, along with that came Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws, which are what Southern states used to restrict their rights. They banned things like interracial marriage and introduced segregation. These laws can be compared to the Title IX office, restricting a person's rights when they should be getting nothing short of support and help.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/29/health/brigham-young-university-rape/