By Jessica Poe
John Black''s heart sunk and his mind whirled when he opened the e-mail requesting an appointment with a dean in the Honor Code Office.
'I began brainstorming really hard about what it could have been about,' said Black, a junior majoring in civil engineering. (His name has been changed.)
As the appointment started, the dean welcomed Black and began to explain the purpose of the meeting.
'The dean told me I was brought into the office because a student saw me looking on the Internet at a picture of a woman wearing almost no clothing,' Black said.
The report came from a student determined to keep the Honor Code, which gives students the responsibility to take action and be their brother''s keeper; one way of doing this is reporting violations to the Honor Code Office.
Shocked by the charge, Black remembered advertisements for a sports magazine''s swimsuit edition on the CNN Web site he regularly visited to check basketball statistics.
Black presented the sports page as an explanation for the claim and declared innocence.
'The dean, probably out of experience, probed a little deeper to see if I was in denial. I felt like he was trying to get me to admit it, but there was nothing to admit, so it was an uncomfortable position,' Black said.
Eventually Black dictated a formal statement, recorded by the dean, about the accusation.
Black said the statement was then read to the source, who agreed the situation in the statement could have occurred, and the finger pointing may have been a mistake.
Steven Baker, director in the Honor Code Office, said reports are usually correct because the office requires substantial information about a violation before a student can receive a summon to the dean.
'I won''t say the system is perfect - but it''s a dang good one,' Baker said.
If an error occurs, the person who jumped to conclusions is urged to apologize, Baker said.
Black did not receive an apology from the source and wished the person had chosen an alternative way of resolving the conflict.
'The person probably should have confronted me first, it would have saved everyone a lot of time,' Black said.
Baker said confronting the person in a Christ-like manner is the preferred intervention.
'Sit down and talk with them nicely and be upfront about expectations,' Baker said.
Another option is to discuss the situation discretely with a bishop, landlord or the Honor Code department. Baker said a variety of authorities could advise proper actions to take.
'We can considerately and kindly intervene at all sorts of levels, but if you did not do anything, that would be inappropriate,' Baker said, 'What''s meant by being honest and being willing to help a person live up to the Honor Code, in my opinion, means intervene and intervene appropriately.'
Violations of the Honor Code have many forms. Academic honesty, dress and grooming standards and residential living standards are areas that have strict regulation and require high values.
'Residential living standard violations are the ones that worry me the most,' Baker said.
Many BYU students room with other young adults who are not enrolled at BYU, but are obliged to live in accordance with the Honor Code.
Dave Freeman, part owner of the Riviera, Raintree, Glenwood and University Villa complexes, said he finds more problems with people who do not attend BYU because they don''t hear about the Honor Code rules over and over again.
'It puts more responsibilities on the landlords to communicate and educate the tenants,' Freeman said.
Landlords observe students'' behavior in an effort to catch violations, Freeman said, but they realize it''s impossible to see everything. Therefore, students possess the responsibility of reporting improper conduct to managers.
'We encourage all of our residents, if a violation goes on, to report them and allow us to assist in it,' Freeman said.
Multiple degrees of punishment penalize Honor Code misconduct, including counseling, warnings, probation and suggestion for and expulsion from BYU.
'It just depends on what the situation is, and the seriousness of it,' said Rita Butler, assistant manager for Branbury apartments.
Branbury performs cleaning checks every other month to assist with observing student''s behavior, Butler said, but they rely mostly on the tenants to report misconduct.
There are more reports of violations from students than observed violations by managers, Butler said.