Prayed for and preyed upon
BYU is not like other universities. It’s a religious university. On a campus where coffee is banned at risk of academic suspension, the doctrines and attitudes of the LDS church seep through every department and bureaucratic office like chocolate milk, often curdling under the intense heat of controversy. The student experience can be sweetened or soured by institutionalized faith depending on the issue in question. For better or for worse, no part of the college experience is too sacred for sanctification. Including sexual assault.
Sexual assault is an epidemic on college campuses across the country. Nationwide, 1 in 6 women experience at least an attempted rape in their lifetime. Women who are eighteen to twenty-four and college students are three times more likely to be assaulted than other women. College campuses have been referred to as “hunting grounds” for sexual predators because of their proximity to an endless supply of victims and notoriously mild consequences for perpetrators. Utah is no exception. In fact, rape is the only violent crime where Utah has a higher rate than the national average. Adding up these statistics, the math is clear: college-aged women in Utah are among the most high-risk populations for sexual assault.
Still, many assume that at the Lord’s university there is no sexual assault. That is not true. Six hundred and thirty-three students reported experiencing sexual assault at BYU in the last year. That number is just a selection of survey respondents. These crimes are vastly underreported. Volunteer victim advocates from The Refuge, Utah County’s sole domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center, estimate that dozens of BYU students are assaulted every month.
At BYU, an explicitly Mormon institution, sexual assault looks different than in secular university environments. Up until 2016, the Honor Code Office (HCO) and Title IX office were inseparable. Victims of sexual assault were often treated as offenders of the LDS-based honor code’s chastity clause, limiting the resources they could receive and further traumatizing them. Amidst a national call to reform university administration’s attitudes towards student sexual assault, BYU made major breakthroughs in policy to grant HCO amnesty to all Title IX victims. Additionally, a once-every-five-years “campus climate” survey was created to measure the prevalence and paradigms of sexual assault among the student body. Data from 2021’s survey was released this past March. The results show considerable strides in the treatment of victims of sexual assault. However, they also reveal concerning patterns related to BYU’s ecclesiastical qualities.
The religious nature of BYU provides unique opportunities for perpetrators to exercise power through spiritual manipulation. According to the BYU campus climate survey, 16% of the reported assaulters used religious language or authority as a form of coercion. Although this is not the most common form of coercion on campus, it is significant and warrants special attention. The weaponization of religion during an assault compounds trauma, robbing a victim of their faith as well as their bodily autonomy. It is a special kind of horror.
In the spring of 2020, BYU professor Michael Clay was charged with two counts of forcible sexual abuse (now six counts because more victims have stepped forward). He resigned immediately from the geography department and pled “not guilty” to all counts brought by his former students. In the charges brought against Clay, prosecutors wrote “with each of the three victims, Defendant used his position as a […] priesthood holder in the LDS church to control and manipulate the young women.” The documents describe how Clay allegedly gave his victims priesthood blessings, sent them conference talks and quotes from church leaders, and claimed to have received revelation that they should have sexual contact. For example, in one incident, “Defendant told Victim 3 she was out of alignment spiritually. Defendant told her that there were three main influences in her life: her Heavenly Father, her [mortal or earthly] father, and her husband. Defendant told her that since she did not have a husband she was out of balance. Defendant said he could partially fill that role so she could get back into balance. Defendant told her that he needed to help her align her crotch chakra.” He allegedly subsequently assaulted her in his office. The legal case is still ongoing.
The intersection of ecclesiastical and sexual abuse in this case is horrifying but should not be wholly surprising. In 2020, 79% of BYU faculty were male. Official BYU HR policy prefers (and sometimes mandates) hiring active and temple recommend-worthy members of the LDS church. Professors of all fields are evaluated on their ability to not only teach material but to strengthen student’s faith by bringing religion into the classroom, as per end-of-semester course evaluations and the BYU mission statement. Altogether, this creates an environment where religious men in positions of power are encouraged to act as spiritual mentors to their students. Where sexual predators exist on campus, spiritual manipulation is one of their most accessible and unassuming tools.
The pattern of ministerial trust in an abuser exists beyond the clear power dynamics of professor-student relationships. Clearly not all ecclesiastical leaders are perpetrators of sexual assault and abuse. But it is dangerous to assume that none of them are. Commonly held beliefs venerating the assured righteousness of returned missionaries and active LDS members in general make students vulnerable to abusers. It is possible to be an Elder’s Quorum President and also a rapist. In the Bible, King David was one of the most celebrated spiritual leaders in the history of the Israelite kingdom. Then he raped Bathsheba. No spiritual standing or authority automatically prevents sexual assault.
The religious nature of the university also affects the way students report and respond to their sexual assault. According to the BYU campus climate survey, only 27% of sexual assaults were reported to a formal institution beyond family and/or friends. Out of those who formally reported, 59% confided in an ecclesiastical leader, whereas only 19% sought help from CAPS, the university’s counseling and psychological services. The discrepancy between these two sources is outstanding. LDS bishops are not professionally trained to handle sensitive cases of sexual assault, as evidenced by the recent AP News investigation of prolonged child sexual abuse in Arizona. They do not have the resources, experience, and skill to help students process and heal from their assault. CAPS therapists and employees do. Yet they are reaching just 5% of all victims, leaving hundreds of students ill-equipped to process and heal.
This underreporting is partly a symptom of the silence around consent and general sex education in conservative LDS communities. Most victims do not have the vocabulary for what happened to them. BYU’s own Dr. Niwako Yamawaki researches college student attitudes towards sexual assault, finding that victims who believe rape myths (beliefs such as women are asking for it, rape must involve a stranger, etc) are significantly less likely to seek help. They may not see their assault as assault. They frequently blame themselves. As a result, they believe they do not need, deserve, or qualify for support. This isolation and self-blame compounds trauma, prolonging suffering and delaying healing. At BYU, where rape myths are widely accepted by the student body, this story is tragically common.
Additionally, in the context of a religious university which mandates regular interviews to determine the sexual purity and therefore academic standing of its students, it is likely that the many formal reports to ecclesiastical leaders took place in a context of interrogation rather than free will. It is likely that these reports were surrounded by shame and guilt because of the LDS church's cultural emphasis on chastity, regardless of the individual ecclesiastical leader’s response. It is likely that these reports were damaging and re-traumatizing for victims rather than a safe start to the healing process.
In those conditions, it is no wonder that across all incidents of unwanted sexual contact, the highest reported type of negative impact from BYU victims on the campus climate survey was spiritual, followed by academic and then religious effects. The LDS emphasis on obeying the law of chastity by refraining from sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage doctrinally excludes assault and abuse. As Elder Keaton stated in April 2022 General Conference, “The abuse was not, is not, and never will be your fault, no matter what the abuser or anyone else may have said to the contrary. You are not less worthy or less valuable or less loved as a human being, or as a daughter or son of God, because of what someone else has done to you.” Yet on the ground, many members cling to stigma. Positive messages of self-worth and repentance are drowned out by the sheer weight of sexual sin, frequently compared to murder in LDS youth sunday school lessons. It is difficult enough to reckon a horrific tragedy with the existence of God. Victims of sexual assault at BYU must also face a culture that equates narrow forms of righteousness like sexual purity with safety.
The sliver of light in this darkness is that religious culture is made by people, and therefore can be changed by people. Religion does not always facilitate further harm in sexual assault. It can offer unparalleled pathways to healing. The BYU community has an opportunity to root out toxic beliefs and do Christ’s work through education and support. There is incredible potential for healing in the doctrines of a faith which values infinite mercy, infinite love, and infinite worth. There is incredible potential for healing in a congregation who renews their covenants every week to “mourn with those who mourn” regardless of their identity or reason for mourning. There is incredible potential to make a difference in someone’s darkest hour. Whether that potential is realized? That’s up to you.
Resources for BYU students experiencing sexual abuse and assault:
Confidential Victim Advocate: 1500 Wilkinson Center, 801-422-9071
Title IX Office: 1085 Wilkinson Center, 801-422-8692
The Refuge 24/7 Hotline: 801-356-2511