I went to BYU for my undergrad as well. As part of a job I had on campus I had some exposure to Honor Code processes. From my experience Honor Code enforcement was not as strict/retaliatory as people make it seem. Many times students would have multiple (e.g. 7) violations before any action was taken. This is just based off of my experience.

My personal opinion is that you shouldn’t sign the Honor Code if you don’t intend to keep it. It’s rediculous that students agree to the code annually and then are surprised when someone holds them to it. BYU Tuition is subsidized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so it’s not unreasonable that they ask you follow some code of conduct.

I was able to graduate with an engineering degree debt free and land an awesome well paying job afterword. Keeping the Honor Code for four years is such a small price to pay in comparison.

Here is a link to some version of the Honor Code. I’m not sure how up to date it is, but it’s probably close if not the same to the current version: https://policy.byu.edu/content/managed/26/ChurchEducationalS...