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“Decision had much less to do with me and more to do with how the university will look” by Lisa Hansen May 2006 Five Brigham Young University students who participated in the Soulforce demonstrations last month will be placed on probation. The list includes Alex Liberato, 22, and his girlfriend Lauren Jackson, 19; Matthew Kulisch, 24; and Timothy Burt, 23. They were all arrested April 11 for trespassing and taking part in a "die-in" ceremony sponsored by the Soulforce Equality Riders. A fifth student, Emil Pohlig, 24, did not participate in the "die-in" and was not arrested, but was present at the rally and told news reporters he was gay. All were placed on Honor Code probation, except for Kulisch, who was placed on "suspension withheld," an extreme form of probation. "I wasn't naive enough getting into this that I thought there wouldn't be any consequences," said Liberato. "The consequences could have been harsher." "I always hoped that I wouldn't be [kicked out]," Kulisch told the Salt Lake Tribune. "But it seems like this particular decision had much less to do with me and more to do with how the university will look. I think that's exactly why I wasn't suspended." Both Kulisch and Pohlig have announced plans to leave BYU and transfer to the University of Utah for the fall semester. See also:  Brigham Young University Pages Hundreds Protest BYU's Policies towards Gays |
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