Liberty University has agreed to pay an unprecedented $14 million fine for failing to disclose information about crimes on campus and its treatment of sexual assault survivors, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.
The fine is the largest ever imposed under the Clery Act, which requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to collect campus crime data and notify students of threats. Schools are required to distribute an annual safety report that includes crime reports and information about efforts to improve campus safety.
Liberty has for years touted itself as having one of the safest campuses in the nation, with more than 15,000 students enrolled at the Lynchburg, Virginia, school. But for much of the period reviewed by federal investigators, from 2016 to 2023, its police department had only one officer with minimal oversight of criminal investigations.
The U.S. Department of Education said it found numerous cases that resulted in crimes being misclassified or underreported. Without evidence that the initial reports were false, the university identified several incidents as unfounded.
“This is particularly common in sex crimes, including rape and fondling cases,” the settlement states.
Federal investigators cited a case in which a woman reported being raped and her attacker telling her he had a knife, the settlement said.
The agreement states that the freelance investigator “found this case to be without merit based on ‘the victim indicated that she consented to sexual intercourse.'” “In fact, the victim’s own statements simply suggest that she ‘gave in’ and tried to escape from her perpetrator.”
The incident was ultimately included in crime statistics because Statue of Liberty Clery Act compliance officers realized the case had been “mishandled at multiple points in the process,” the agreement said.
The agreement says many victims of sex crimes are afraid to report them for fear of retaliation. Some were punished for violating the student code of conduct known as “The Road to Freedom,” while the attackers walked free. ”
“As a result, victims of sexual assault are often frustrated by liberal governments’ reputations for punishing survivors of sexual assault rather than helping them,” the agreement said. “This fear creates a culture of silence where sexual assault often goes unreported .”
The university said in a statement Tuesday that it is “fully committed to the safety of our students, staff and faculty without exception.”
The school said it will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Education. It also noted that since 2022, the company has made more than $10 million in significant improvements in educational programming, new leadership and staffing to comply with the Clery Act and other laws.
Hurriyet also acknowledged past problems, including “incorrect statistical reporting and failure to send necessary timely warnings and emergency notifications.” But the university also said the methods and calculations used by the U.S. Department of Education were “very different from how they have historically treated other universities.”
“The Free Press disagrees with this approach and insists we have repeatedly suffered selective and unfair treatment from the department,” the school said.
But Dustin Wahl, co-founder of Save71, an alumni-led organization advocating for change, said Liberty is trying to shirk responsibility.
“Liberty should apologize to the students who have been harmed over the years and show a commitment to change,” he said. “Not because they are being dragged along by the administration, but because they sincerely want to be transparent and solve the problem.”
Prior to Tuesday, Michigan State University had been fined $4.5 million in 2019, its largest ever fine under the Clery Act, according to a February Congressional Research Service report. Federal investigators say Michigan State failed to adequately respond to sexual assault complaints against campus sports doctor Larry Nassar, who molested elite gymnasts and other female athletes.
In 2016, Penn State was fined a then-record $2.4 million following child sexual abuse complaints against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.
Liberty’s $14 million fine appears to be a small portion of its total operating income, which would have been $1.2 billion in fiscal 2022 without contribution limits, according to an annual report. The school’s net worth is $3.5 billion.
But the consequences of violating the Clery Act “go beyond fines,” said Abigail Boyer, associate executive director of Penn State’s Clery Center, which provides training and assistance to campuses.
“Going hand-in-hand with fines, institutions are considering how to create a public perception that their campuses may or may not be concerned about the safety and well-being of their students,” Boyer said.
Since being co-founded in 1971 by religious broadcaster Jerry Falwell Sr., Liberty has become one of the largest Christian schools in the world. The school said it will have 115,000 students pursuing degrees online in 2022, surpassing the 15,000 students on campus.
The Clery Act investigation became public knowledge in 2022 following recent lawsuits over its handling of sexual assault cases.
Former students and employees have filed lawsuits accusing the school of falsifying sexual assault reports or failing to investigate rape allegations. The lawsuit was filed under Title IX, a federal law that protects against sex discrimination in education and often overlaps with Cleary’s.
In 2022, Liberty settled a civil lawsuit filed by 12 women who accused the school of creating an unsafe environment and mishandling sexual assault and harassment cases.
The lawsuit claims the university has an “implied policy” to bias investigations in favor of accused male students and says it retaliates against women who make such reports.
Terms of the lawsuit’s settlement were not disclosed. But at the time, Liberty outlined changes it had made to improve campus safety and reviewed how it responds to incidents of sexual harassment or violence.
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