Liberty University, an evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, has agreed to pay a record $14 million fine for violating federal campus safety laws, the Department of Education announced Tuesday, and the school accused of creating a “culture of silence” that impedes reporting. Misconduct of crimes and repeated sexual assaults.
In a 108-page report, the department found that the university had particular problems with its response to sexual misconduct, including sexual assault of several people for violating the student honor code, which prohibits premarital sex. This included punishing the victim but not punishing the perpetrator. As a result, sexual assaults often went unreported, the ministry said.
The report also said Liberty prevented employees from sending emergency notifications and withheld students from dangerous events such as bomb threats and gas leaks on campus. and accuses the university of keeping little data on crime on campus and touting itself in public as one of the safest universities in the country, while providing statistics unsupported by official records. did.
The action comes after Liberty, founded by conservative pastor and political activist Jerry Falwell Sr., has grown into one of the most prominent evangelical organizations in the country, with a vast campus and endowments of more than $2. It's the latest blow to the position. a billion. Mr. Falwell's son, Jerry Falwell Jr., resigned as president in 2020 amid a sex scandal and was sued by the university the following year for $40 million in damages for various breaches of contract. .
Tuesday's fine dwarfs previous fines the department has imposed for such violations, and comes after a department investigation revealed “serious and persistent violations” of the Clery Act. is part of the settlement agreement. The law requires schools participating in federal financial aid programs to report data on campus crimes and provide assistance to victims of sexual assault.
In addition to the fine, the university agreed to maintain a compliance committee and spend $2 million over two years to improve campus safety. The ministry announced it would monitor the university until April 2026.
“The $14 million fine and other remedial actions imposed in this settlement reflect the nature of Liberty's long-standing and serious violations that undermine campus safety for students, faculty, and staff,” the department said in a statement. ” he said.
In a statement posted online, the university acknowledged many of the violations cited by the Department of Education during the seven-year investigation, but said the school was far more likely than any other institution to be identified. It said it was being actively scrutinized.
“While the university asserts that it has repeatedly endured selective and unfair treatment by faculty, the university also agrees that there have been numerous shortcomings in the past,” the statement said. “We acknowledge and regret our past failures and take necessary improvements seriously.”
The department's review began in 2022 and comes on the heels of a lawsuit in which a total of 22 women joined the lawsuit against Liberty University. Some women say they have been raped or sexually assaulted because of careless policies and a culture that discourages reporting sexual misconduct.
The Department of Education is in the final stages of issuing new sexual misconduct regulations that redefine the provisions of Title IX of the 1972 Act, which prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded schools. There is.
These changes are expected to strengthen protections for victims of sexual assault on college campuses, and are in line with mandates under the Trump administration to be more sensitive to protecting students accused of sexual misconduct. The rules that were established will be rescinded.
The department's fines Tuesday went far beyond previous Clery Act penalties handed down in response to large-scale incidents involving widespread sexual assault of students by university employees.
The fine exceeded the then-record $4.5 million fine handed down to Michigan State University in 2019 for sexual abuse by Lawrence G. Nassar. Nassar was convicted of sexually abusing hundreds of girls and women during his years as a sports doctor to student athletes at a Michigan State University clinic.
Also, assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty of sexually abusing 10 boys, far exceeding the $2.4 million levy against Penn State.