On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Liberty University, founded by the late Jerry Falwell, will pay an unprecedented $14 million in fines for violations of the Clery Act. Specifically, the university is accused of failing to disclose information about crime on its Lynchburg, Virginia campus and for its treatment of sexual assault survivors.
The fine is by far the largest ever levied under the Clery Act, a law that requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to collect data on campus crime and notify students of threats. Schools must disseminate an annual security report that includes crime reports and information on efforts to improve campus safety.
Liberty has marketed itself for years as having one of the nation’s safest campuses, with more than 15,000 students enrolled at the school in Lynchburg. But its police department had a single officer with minimal oversight who was investigating crimes for most of the time period reviewed by federal investigators, 2016 to 2023.
The U.S. Department of Education said it identified numerous cases that resulted in the misclassification or underreporting of crimes. And there were several incidents that the university determined to be unfounded without any clear showing that the initial report was false or baseless.
The Department of Education claims that, in the course of their investigation, it was determined that several victims of sexual assaults were afraid of coming forward due to fear of reprisals from the University.
“In fact, over the course of this review period, several sexual assault victims were punished for violating the student code of conduct known as ‘The Liberty Way,’ while their assailants were left unpunished,” according to the settlement agreement.
“Consequently, victims of sexual assault often felt dissuaded by Liberty administration’s reputation for punishing sexual assault survivors rather than helping them,” the agreement said. “Such fears created a culture of silence where sexual assaults commonly went unreported.”
See Related: This Is the Way: Thomas Massie Introduces Bill to Demolish the Department of Education
Liberty University, while conceding to pay the fines levied under the Clery Act, nevertheless pushed back on some of the allegations.
Liberty also acknowledged past problems, including “incorrect statistical reports as well as necessary timely warnings and emergency notifications that were not sent.” But the university also said the U.S. Department had employed methods and calculations that were “drastically different from their historic treatment of other universities.”
“Liberty disagrees with this approach and maintains that we have repeatedly endured selective and unfair treatment by the department,” the school said in a statement.
When considering this objection, it's important to bear in mind that the Biden Administration and its officials have not been known for even-handed treatment of what they consider conservative-leaning institutions.
Before this, the largest fine levied under the Clery Act was a 2019 finding against Michigan State, in which investigators again found that Michigan State failed to respond to sexual assault complaints against a campus sports physician who was accused of molesting female athletes.
The Clery Act, signed into law in 1990, amended the Higher Education Act of 1965 and requires all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs - so, effectively, the vast majority of such institutions - to keep and disclose information about crime on or near their campuses.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member