Brigham Young University President Kevin J Worthen addressed concerns about how the university deals with sexual assault victims in a video on Wednesday.
“We’re not perfect,” President Worthen said in the video. “We don’t claim to be perfect. We can be better. This is important enough that we owe it to the community to say, ‘This is the very best that we can do and we’ve thought it through and we’ve studied it through and these are the changes that we are going to make.”
Earlier this week, BYU announced they would be investigating the relationship between the Title IX Office and the Honor Code Office. In a video with BYU Spokesperson Carri Jenkins asking questions, President Worthen talks about the beginning process of the investigation he is leading.
BYU turned its attention to investigating the relationship between these two programs after a BYU student, Madi Barney, accused the university of holding her enrollment after she reported being raped. Barney created an online petition calling for an immunity clause from the Honor Code for victims of sexual assault so they won’t fear reporting being raped. She has more that 90,000 supporters.
President Worthen wanted to make it clear in the video that BYU has no tolerance for sexual assault.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for perpetrators of sexual violence, period,” President Worthen said. “If there is one thing that is clear about the Honor Code, it’s that if there is a finding that one of our students has been the perpetrator of sexual violence, there will be Honor Code action.
