Bar Association Investigates Bias Complaint at BYU Law School

The American Bar Association is investigating a complaint that Brigham Young University’s law school violates the group’s nondiscrimination guidelines by maintaining policies that allow the expulsion of students for being homosexual or for losing their Mormon faith before graduation. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that, upon entering the university, students sign a code of conduct affirming that they will not violate Mormon teachings, which also forbid drinking alcohol and having sex before marriage.

The advocacy group of BYU alumni that submitted the complaint, FreeBYU, is pushing for students who have been expelled under the policies to be allowed to finish their degrees, and also, more generally, for more religious freedom on the campus, which is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is formally known.

FreeBYU has received 2,800 signatures on an online petition of support. A university spokeswoman told the newspaper that officials were “confident that we continue to meet” the standards of the bar association, which accredits the school.