Liberty agrees to pay unprecedented $14M penalty for its failure to disclose crime data
Liberty University has agreed to pay an unprece- dented $14 million fine after the Christian school failed to disclose information about crimes that occurred on its Lynchburg campus, includ- ing those involving sexual assaults, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday.
The fine is by far the larg- est levied under the Clery Act, a law that requires col- leges 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. The Washington Post and USA Today reported in Octo- ber that preliminary find- ings by federal investiga- tors described a university that discouraged people from reporting crimes and could not provide basic doc- umentation about crime on campus.
Before Tuesday, the largest Clery Act fine in history was $4.5 million against Michigan State in 2019, according to a February report from the Congressional Research Ser- vice. Federal investigators said Michigan State failed to adequately respond to sex- ual assault complaints against Larry Nassar, a campus sports doctor who molested elite gymnasts and other female athletes.
In 2016, Pennsylvania State University was hit with a then-record fine of $2.4 million in the wake of child sexual-abuse complaints against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Before that, the previous record Clery Act fine was $357,500 against Eastern Michigan University in 2007, which was reduced to $350,000 in a settlement.
Liberty confirmed in October that it had received a preliminary report from the government’s investigation. And the school said it was corresponding with officials about “significant errors, misstatements, and unsupported conclusions in the Department’s preliminary findings.”
Liberty said the preliminary assessed fine from the U.S. government was $37.5 million, according to the Congressional Research Service.
The $14 million fine against Liberty University appears to be a small fraction of its total operating revenues, which were $1.2 billion without donor restrictions in fiscal year 2022, according to an annual report. The school’s net assets were $3.5 billion.
But Clery Act violations are “bigger than just the fines,” said Abigail Boyer, associate executive director at the Pennsylvania-based Clery Center, which provides training and assistance to campuses.
“Hand in hand with the fines is institutions navigating how they’re now being perceived publicly as a campus that may or may not be focusing on the safety and well being of students,” Boyer told The Associated Press.
Liberty has become one of the world’s largest Christian schools since its 1971 co-founding by religious broadcaster Jerry Falwell Sr.