This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

As fervor and backlash continue to grow over the troubling revelations about how incidents of rape are dealt with at Brigham Young University, President Kevin Worthen noted of the school's Honor Code, "I hope we have a system that people feel they can trust," followed with promises to launch an internal investigation into the matter.

Not counting the most current incidents, it takes only a cursory search to reveal that the Honor Code is not only a system that cannot be trusted but wreaks havoc on victims of rape by encouraging victim shaming and shielding perpetrators of rape by deterring women from reporting their experiences.

In a more recent oped published in the Tribune defending BYU's Honor Code the author remarked that the Honor Code helped students to 'not place themselves in risky situations.' In this instance and hundreds of similar narratives dedicated to defending the purpose and legitimacy of BYU's Honor Code is an inherent assumption that women are placing themselves in situations that merit rape or at the very least as Coleman's story demonstrates, deserve mild punishment and suspicion.

Like many women who suffered rape and stayed silent for fear of retaliation from the Honor Code Office, what is equally distressing is the number of men who have been raped and stay silent for similar reasons.Far from acting as a bulwark of morality, the Honor Code at BYU represents not only an antiquated system of hierarchy but an apparatus of violence which promises to continue protecting and supporting one of the most repugnant examples of misogyny present in the 21st century.

As the father of a daughter and longtime advocate for women's rights, it is unthinkable that BYU could continue as a legitimate academic institution while defending and ultimately maintaining the powerful apparatus of violence the Honor Code represents. It is time for BYU to stand up to sexual violence and get rid of the Honor Code for good.

Tayler Clough

Salt Lake City