Gordon Monson: It’s past time for BYU to change its Honor Code

The Jake Retzlaff story has gone national in no small part because of BYU’s Honor Code and the way it is applied and enforced. Thereafter have come opinions by pundits, podcasters and commentators of all kinds about an encounter that Retzlaff described as “consensual” sex with a woman who initially filed a civil lawsuit alleging sexual assault, a suit that Monday was dismissed without any real explanation to the public.

The BYU quarterback believed he was facing a seven-game suspension heading into his senior season and decided to transfer. The suspension would be the result of school administrators’ evaluation of what occurred, an application of a penalty associated with the behavioral code that every BYU student agrees to and signs off on before being enrolled: No sex outside of marriage, among other prohibitions.

A common reaction to Retzlaff’s fate has been praise heaped upon BYU by outsiders for the school standing by and sticking to its standards, throwing the thunder down even in a case where its starting quarterback, and thereby its entire football team, is adversely affected.

“It’s simple. You agree to the Honor Code,” it has been said. “You live by it. End of story. Good for BYU for not backing down.”

The problem with that thinking, a sentiment that BYU gladly embraces, is that it’s not so simple.

Warning: We’re going to dive into religion here.

The Honor Code is an offshoot from teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, BYU’s owner and operator. The global church professes that sex outside of marriage between a woman and a man is a sin. It should be avoided. When it is not, it becomes a matter of repentance, basically a process in which the offender prays to God for forgiveness and talks with his or her congregation’s bishop to make amends. From there, the bishop, in theory, is inspired to help the individual get good with God. That can happen quickly — as it did with the biblical woman taken in adultery who was about to be stoned by her accusers, whom Jesus saved and forgave in an instant, telling her to go her way and sin no more — or it can take longer, depending on circumstances.

What church teachings don’t include is a seven-game suspension laid down by school administrators who are not ecclesiastical leaders that knocks a football career off its rails, causing an interruption of said career and possibly forcing a transfer to another school.

The extra layer of enforcement at BYU, along with its consequences, is not simple. It’s complicated. It’s punitive, outside the spiritual welfare of the offending soul.

The application and enforcement of the Honor Code on Latter-day Saint athletes and students and those of other faiths — Retzlaff is Jewish — are a mixed bag. They’re rarely clear-cut deals in which, well, you signed up to keep the code, so if you do not, there’s proper hell to pay.

Athletes and all kinds of students sometimes confess that they had sex, prompting them to meet with their bishop or another spiritual adviser. Sometimes they don’t. The ones who don’t, go on their way, going to class, playing ball, either feeling guilty or praying to their God on their own or not feeling anything. The ones who do talk with their bishop work it out that way. The bishop can privately counsel the athlete or student and let it be, or he could choose to not renew the athlete/student’s ecclesiastical endorsement required of every BYU student to remain in good standing. According to information on the school’s website, a bishop or ecclesiastical leader is not permitted to pass a student’s private information on to the Honor Code office without that student’s written consent. There are occasions when an athlete or student is, for lack of a less crass term, “ratted out” to the HCO by someone, and then further investigation commences.

As mentioned, each year, a bishop signs off on a student’s endorsement to attend BYU. That call is his to make, supposedly depending on inspiration from the spirit. It’s a spiritual matter, not one involving administrators, or at least it shouldn’t involve school officials. Students are human. Most bishops know that and are quite merciful. Some are more aggressive. It’s a crapshoot that Latter-day Saints have come to label “bishop roulette.”

For those singing BYU’s praises for enforcing its code, consider this: I’m convinced most students, not all, when they agree to live by it, have every intention of doing so. They want to live “chaste” lives. But when unmarried students – say, 19-year-old enrollees – find themselves with someone they’re attracted to, and caught up in a moment of consensual passion, sometimes stuff happens. Most people, including bishops, understand the way youthful hormones work. If two unmarried BYU students, good people, are in love, or even in like, well, sparks can fly. Enough said.

The Retzlaff case is extraordinary in some ways: It involved public allegations of wrongdoing, even if the case was eventually dismissed.

There have been harsh penalties even when an athlete’s Honor Code violations did not also allegedly violate laws of the land. Brandon Davies had to walk away from the basketball team for six months, with the cruel glare of a national spotlight upon him. Jamaal Williams withdrew from school for an entire year.

If every unmarried athlete at BYU who has sex were suspended for seven games, if every unmarried student at BYU who has sex were suspended from classes for a semester or two — speculation alert here, but educated speculation — there would be a whole lot of spots open on the roster, a whole lot of empty chairs in classrooms.

Harshly penalizing those athletes/students all lickety-split — beyond what they feel strictly on the spiritual side, working that out with their ecclesiastical guide — because they signed the code, agreeing to abide by it and then messed up, is a hammer swung straight out of the Old Testament.

Hard-core observers might say, “If you’re going to do that, if you’re going to have sex, then don’t go to BYU. Go somewhere else where that’s perfectly OK.”

Again, it’s not that cut and dried. Many athletes and students want to be at BYU, they want that religious environment and they benefit from it, but they are human, too.

If the laws of the land are broken, judges and juries might not be forgiving, and neither should BYU look the other way. In the case of broken spiritual laws, God is forgiving.

Retzlaff’s case was further complicated in that it placed him in a vice grip, caught between an accusation of sexual assault and his own admission of sex that he said was consensual. The court waited on the one side, the school on the other.

On account of that, and Retzlaff’s position as BYU’s quarterback, his situation was highly publicized. And when what the Honor Code considers sexual misconduct goes viral like that, the code frequently is more forcefully applied. If it’s private, it might be handled discreetly, with leniency, or there may be no consequences at all.

What to do with the Honor Code, then? What to do with the varied way it is enforced for all sorts of indiscretions — sometimes harsh, sometimes soft, sometimes ignored? Should it remain intact? Should it be revamped? Should it be rescinded? How important is university control?

Should sins by students or athletes be handled the way they generally are across the rest of the church — by individuals with their bishop and their God? Or should religious mistakes be met with an extra layer of penalty, including consequences that could include expulsion or suspension of class enrollment, or suspension for seven games during one’s senior season?

One thing is certain. Most Latter-day Saint parents don’t want to send their grown sons and daughters off to a church school and then hear about them partying, drinking alcohol and having sex. On the other hand, they also don’t want their grown kids suspended or kicked out or have their diploma withheld for a spiritual mistake that could be properly addressed effectively, personally, quietly, confidentially with the church. They also don’t want their grown kids to delay their repentance process until they’re safely away from BYU because they’re afraid of actions the school might take.

The opinion here: The code should be dropped or altered and enforced differently, certainly as it concerns aforementioned spiritual matters.

There is an important Latter-day Saint doctrine known as agency. There might be consequences attached, but when adult decisions veer off the preferred path, the mercy of God can and should often extend from and to those who say they are appointed to act in heaven’s name and those they are called to shepherd. School administrators can stay out of it.

What’s the exact Bible quote from the Master of All? Oh, yeah: “Neither do I condemn thee: Go, and sin no more.”

And even if they do sin more, maybe he would repeat the same line again, bit by bit, until they get it right.