PROVO (ABC4 News) – BYU announced updates to their campus Honor Code Wednesday, following months of protests by current and former students. The updates deal with transparency and Honor Code processes.
The announcement comes from Honor Code Office director Kevin Utt, “In order to help reduce misunderstanding and anxiety, we’ve learned we need to better educate the campus community about what a correct process looks like. Being transparent helps a student articulate if something isn’t going according to plan and provides the opportunity for concrete feedback.”
The updates include:
- A statement of Good Faith, meaning the students will be presumed innocent unless they take responsibility or are found otherwise.
- Students can bring a support person of their choosing to any Honor Code meeting.
- The appeals process was clarified for Honor Code Office decisions.
- Employees at the HCO office are now being called Administrators instead of Counselors to avoid confusion about their role.
Utt noted that all Honor Code Office administrators have completed training from the Association for Student Conduct Administration on appropriate questions to ask during student conduct meetings.
This training from ASCA – a national organization that develops and promotes best practices for universities – will be reviewed on a regular basis and is now part of the onboarding process for new HCO employees.
Find the full announcement here.
