Proposed New Role for Honor Code Office

Here's an idea:



Why don't we reduce the Honor Code Office to a Ecclesiastical Endorsement clearinghouse reporting center that keeps track of EEs to make sure everyone is current, and where narks.....er....."concerned students and individuals" can report alleged Honor Code violations. The Honor Code Office would take the usual report, but then forwards it on to the bishop of the alleged violator. The bishop could then meet with the student and decide whether or not to rescind his EE, and the HC Office would have no investigative or disciplinary function--just a centralized paper-shuffling office.



They can decide to keep people out of the temple, why not BYU?



Thoughts?

snoscythe wrote:
Here's an idea:



Why don't we reduce the Honor Code Office to a Ecclesiastical Endorsement clearinghouse reporting center that keeps track of EEs to make sure everyone is current, and where narks.....er....."concerned students and individuals" can report alleged Honor Code violations. The Honor Code Office would take the usual report, but then forwards it on to the bishop of the alleged violator. The bishop could then meet with the student and decide whether or not to rescind his EE, and the HC Office would have no investigative or disciplinary function--just a centralized paper-shuffling office.



They can decide to keep people out of the temple, why not BYU?



Thoughts?

That makes sense to me. I think Bishops can be a good judge of what kind of student belongs at BYU, and what kind does not...so long as they do not fall trap to that BYU would be good to straighten out someone mentality. I do hope that students will grow and change as they attend BYU, but Bishops should not send people there who are not yet committed to living LDS values. Dress and grooming standards and academic honesty can be enforced by the testing center and professors, if necessary. All other issues can be handled by the ecclesiastical authorities.



The only thing I am not sure about how you handle is issues with a non-member. If they are breaking the word of wisdom with alcohol parties, for example, what do you do when their ecclesiastical leader doesn't have an issue with alcohol? Do we really think that the minister would pull the ecclesiastical endorsement over that issue? For that matter, would a bishop pull it over that issue? There would have to be some guidelines set up concerning how to administer the ecclesiastical endorsement, and maybe even have some ability for the honor code office to step in where there are multiple complaints that are not handled appropriately by the ecclesiastical authority Bishop or not. Just some thoughts...

snoscythe wrote:
Here's an idea:



Why don't we reduce the Honor Code Office to a Ecclesiastical Endorsement clearinghouse reporting center that keeps track of EEs to make sure everyone is current, and where narks.....er....."concerned students and individuals" can report alleged Honor Code violations. The Honor Code Office would take the usual report, but then forwards it on to the bishop of the alleged violator. The bishop could then meet with the student and decide whether or not to rescind his EE, and the HC Office would have no investigative or disciplinary function--just a centralized paper-shuffling office.



They can decide to keep people out of the temple, why not BYU?



Thoughts?

Completely and totally agree. It wouldn't be a perfect system, but it would do a better job of accomplishing the spirit of the honor code.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
The only thing I am not sure about how you handle is issues with a non-member. If they are breaking the word of wisdom with alcohol parties, for example, what do you do when their ecclesiastical leader doesn't have an issue with alcohol? Do we really think that the minister would pull the ecclesiastical endorsement over that issue? For that matter, would a bishop pull it over that issue? There would have to be some guidelines set up concerning how to administer the ecclesiastical endorsement, and maybe even have some ability for the honor code office to step in where there are multiple complaints that are not handled appropriately by the ecclesiastical authority Bishop or not. Just some thoughts...

Off-the-cuff solution--each student, regardless of religious affiliation, is assigned a BYU-ward bishop, and that BYU-bishop can revoke EE's and must at least co-endorse renewed EE's after the first semester.

What keeps a kid (esp non-member?) from lying to a bishop? Bishops aren't going to do any investigating.

And even without that, this seems to place a lot of burden on already-burdened bishops.

CrimsonCoug wrote:
What keeps a kid (esp non-member?) from lying to a bishop? Bishops aren't going to do any investigating.

And even without that, this seems to place a lot of burden on already-burdened bishops.

BYU already relies on Bishops for the yearly ecclesiastical endorsement therefore putting a burden on them anyway. I could be wrong, but I'm not going to put much weight into the investigative ability of the Honor Code office. Generally speaking, Bishops will know the student better than the Honor Code office and can likely offer a more fair outcome for all parties.

I think it is a step forward, BUT I think it would need to include training for Bishops so there is not disparate treatment depending upon the Bishop involved. I am fine with individualized treatment, but if the disparity is too great, it could breed cynicism and worse. Also it might require distinguishing between things that are truly moral issues, like premarital sex, and hair going over the ears--Bishops should only be asked to deal with the moral issues....Just some thoughts percolating

What about students who switch wards? IIRC, I got my first EE from my bishop in NJ, but then we moved to Utah.

Look for the ward with the "understanding" bishop rather than the "hard-core" ecclesiastical leader.

I don't think I would be down with the change. I think the current amount of involvement the Bishops have with the school is appropriate, and I hate to disrupt that balance. I agree some things could probably use changing at the honor code office though.

SenorCougar wrote:
Look for the ward with the "understanding" bishop rather than the "hard-core" ecclesiastical leader.

Exactly.

Nice creativity Sno, but this is a no go. Too munch disparity between bishops. And too much dishonesty by students.

Like the definition of democracy--the worst form of government but the best one we have--meaning the current system. Bishops should be shepherds not enforcement agents to a university demanding compliance but wanting to capitulate enforcement.

It almost seems like it would open up bishops to legal liability. If a bishop plays honor code office with students especially non members and gets them removed from school that student loses any financial aid they had, potentially scholarship money, ability to graduate, housing, etc. I'd hate to be the first bishop to make that call against a nonmember-minority student.



We could do a whole new "write the SL Trib" headline for that day except it wouldn't be the trib it would be CNN.