Liberty University has been fined $14 million for mishandling sexual abuse and other crimes
Liberty University, the evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, agreed to pay a record $14 million fine for violating federal campus safety laws, the Department of Education announced Tuesday, accusing the school of creating a ‘culture of silence’ that discouraged reporting. of crimes and repeated mishandling of sexual violence.
In a Report of 108 pagesthe department found specific problems with the university’s handling of sexual misconduct, including its failure to discipline several victims of sexual assault for violating the honor code for students, which bans premarital sex but does not punish attackers. As a result, sex crimes often went unreported, the department said.
The report also said Liberty discouraged staff members from sending emergency notifications because they failed to notify students of dangerous events such as bomb threats on campus and gas leaks. And it accused the university of publicly portraying itself as one of the safest colleges in the country, while keeping little data on campus crime and providing statistics that could not be supported by official data.
The action is the latest blow to the status of Liberty, which was founded by conservative preacher and political activist Jerry Falwell Sr. and has grown into one of the nation’s most prominent evangelical institutions, with a sprawling campus and an endowment of more than $2. 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 over various contract breaches.
Tuesday’s fine, which dwarfs any previous fine imposed by the ministry for such violations, is part of a settlement agreement with the university after an investigation by the department revealed “material and persistent violations” of the Clery Act. The law requires schools participating in federal financial aid programs to report campus crime data and provide support to victims of sexual assault.
In addition to the fine, the university agreed to spend $2 million over two years to maintain a compliance committee and improve campus safety. The department said it would monitor the university until April 2026.
“The $14 million fine and other remedies imposed in this settlement reflect the serious and long-standing nature of Liberty’s violations, which undermined campus safety for students, faculty and staff,” the department said in a statement declaration.
In a statement posted onlinethe university acknowledged many of the violations cited by the Education Department during the seven years it reviewed, but said the school had been singled out and scrutinized far more aggressively than other institutions.
“While the university maintains that we have repeatedly suffered selective and unfair treatment by the department, the university also agrees that there have been numerous shortcomings in the past,” the statement said. “We acknowledge and regret these past failures and have taken these necessary improvements seriously.”
The department’s review, which began in 2022, followed a lawsuit in which A total of 22 women have joined a lawsuit against Liberty University. Some women said they had been raped or experienced sexual violence because of negligent policies and a culture that discouraged reporting sexual misconduct.
The Department of Education is in the final stages of unveiling new rules on sexual misconduct that will redefine provisions of Title IX, a 1972 law that bans sex discrimination in federally funded schools.
These changes are expected to provide stronger protections for victims of sexual assault on college campuses, undoing Trump administration rules that gave more deference to students accused of sexual misconduct defending themselves.
In imposing the fine on Tuesday, the department went far beyond previous Clery Act penalties, which followed high-profile cases of widespread sexual abuse by university staff against students.
The fine eclipsed the then-record $4.5 million fine imposed on Michigan State University in 2019 for sexual abuse committed by Lawrence G. Nassar. Mr. Nassar was convicted of abusing hundreds of girls and women while serving for years as a sports doctor for student athletes at a Michigan State University clinic.
It also far exceeded the $2.4 million levied on Penn State following the conviction of Jerry Sandusky, an assistant football coach, for sexually abusing 10 boys.