Liberty University says the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is threatening the school with an unprecedented $37.5 million fine for allegedly covering up sexual assaults and other crimes on campus, according to Fox News. Liberty reportedly adds that the ED “poisoned the well” by leaking the department’s preliminary Clery Act compliance report to media.
The leaked report allegedly shows the university underreported campus crime and deterred people from reporting crimes for years, The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported.
Now, the president of Liberty University is crying foul, saying the ED leaked the report to justify its very high fine. The fine is far higher than recent fines levied by the ED on other universities, such as a $4.5-million one levied against Michigan State for its failure to address sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar. That fine was previously the largest ever issued for Clery Act violations.
“The leak is intentionally aimed at laying the groundwork for an unprecedented fine and the report is filled with factual errors that the Department has admitted to Liberty in their negotiations,” Liberty University President Dr. Dondi E. Costin said to Fox News.
“The most damaging element of this whole process is the fact that for the first time that any of us are aware, the Department of Education leaked a preliminary report while we are in the process of negotiating with the department about all the advancements that we’ve made.”
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Under the Clery Act, colleges that participate in federal student aid programs must disclose certain information about crime and campus safety. Liberty University received $874 million for student loans.
Costin claims the report was leaked before Liberty officials had a chance to dispute the findings by the ED’s June 30 deadline. Costin said there were a “number of factual errors” in the report.
“For instance, they are assuming that individuals who are making these claims are accurate and honest and transparent without exception, when in fact, much of the assertions that they’ve made are based on purely anecdotal information,” Costin said. “Part of the challenge that we have here, because they leaked this report is now in the public, is that we haven’t had the opportunity to respond in a way that would allow us, at least in a public setting — allow us to counter these assertions that have been made with factual errors.”
Liberty first alleged the ED’s draft report contained “significant errors, misstatements, and unsupported conclusions” in a statement published Oct. 3. LU reportedly then detailed these errors in a supplemental response to the ED’s findings in September.
Fox News reported that Liberty University is halfway through an appeal process to lower the potential fine.
Liberty failed to warn of on-campus sexual violence
The leaked report allegedly found that between 2016 and 2022, Liberty failed to warn those on campus about people credibly accused of sexual violence, including a senior administrator, an athlete, and a former Liberty president.
The report confirms a story that TRR previously published about a former student who claimed Liberty failed to report her gang rape in 2005. The student filed a complaint with a victim advocacy group, which led to an investigation by the ED and a settlement in 2014, requiring Liberty to pay a $120,000 fine.
It also echoes TRR’s report on numerous women who alleged that Liberty created an unsafe environment that enabled on-campus rapes. The women filed a highly publicized class-action lawsuit against the school.
Sarah Mays, one of the plaintiffs who refused to settle with Liberty, is associated with a group of students and parents who are spearheading a public petition to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
The petition, which was started a day after the Post released the ED’s findings, appeals to the school’s accrediting body. It asks the SACSCOC to put the school on probation until Liberty addresses its “deficiencies.”
Mays told TRR that the “most damaging” part of the ED’s report is that Liberty received hundreds of thousands in aid to keep students safe, yet it “still lacks the administrative capacity to follow federal laws that specify how to keep a campus safe.”
She added that Costin’s remarks on the issue demonstrate “a stiff neck and a hard heart. In this petition and letter, we are asking for the Department of Education and SACSCOC to help soften it.”
Liberty retaliated against employees, deleted records
The 74-page leaked report alleges the university didn’t keep records required by the Clery Act and even destroyed various records, according to the Post. Liberty officials reportedly wiped multiple hard drives in the human resources department after the government inquiry began.
The school also allegedly retaliated against employees who tried to raise the alarm. The ED found that Liberty fired a former senior vice president after he tried to address Clery Act violations, according to a three-page excerpt of the ED report that TRR obtained and previously reported on.
Liberty is one of the nation’s most influential Christian universities, with more than 15,000 students on its Lynchburg, Va., campus and 130,000 enrolled worldwide.
This article has been corrected to clarify Mays’ support role with the petition.
Freelance journalist Liz Lykins writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.
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10 Responses
“People who treat other people as less than human must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned.”
James Baldwin
It’s about time, waters are flowing.
Wow….
But should we be surprised??
Wiping HR hard drives….
Only delete incriminating information…
If they moved the decimal point to the right and made a couple of arrests I might be impressed.
Seriously, ordering hard drives to be wiped before federal investigators arrive? Destroying a police report of a rape? And they get off with a fine?
The ED “poisoned the well” by leaking the report?! Because what, we didn’t already know that LU has been covering up and underreporting sexual assaults for decades?! Did the ED compliance report tell us something that years of media reports and law suits haven’t already been telling us for years?
Actions like this really speak to the character (or lack thereof) of the administrators at LU.
No surprise here. I live in Pensacola, home of Pensacola Christian Academy which is also accused of a significant number of cover ups of rapes and sexual assults etc. Why anyone would enroll in these colleges is beyond me.
The most effective penalty would be for thousands of prospective students and their parents to notify LU that they (and/or their sons and daughters) have decided not to enroll there because of the university’s inability to maintain a safe campus.
Has not anyone listened to the podcast Gangster Capitalism and their incredible investigative on LU? It is phenomenal- and heartbreaking.
Just say the Department of Education is corrupt…. along with the DOJ, FBI, IRS, EPA etc… This is what I hear everyday on Conservative Christian media everyday…..
Or just say …we do not need the Department of Education… again I hear this from Evangelicals all the time…
It’s called “Playing the PERSECUTION!!!!!!!” Card off the bottom of the deck.
And as for the Department of Education, well, who nees a So-Called “Education” when there is only ONE thing to learn that mattes in Eternity:
“B-I-B-L-E!
That’s the Only Book for ME!”
Parents should never send their daughters to one of the “christian” colleges around the country. More than most, they are governed by testosterone-based “ethics.” GANG RAPE was not reported to the police by the school OR the parents??? Doesn’t Virginia have a Mandatory Reporter law?
Disgusting…as usual.