NOTICE: SUIT AGAINST UNIVERSITY SETTLED

A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit 12 women brought last summer against Liberty University, accusing the Christian institution of fostering an unsafe environment on its Virginia campus and mishandling cases of sexual assault and harassment, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

A notice of dismissal filed by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Jack Larkin, said the case had been settled but provided no details.

Larkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. But in an email to TV station WDBJ, he said: “The terms of the settlement are confidential in nature and there’s really nothing I can say about it beyond that the parties to the suit have resolved their differences.”

Liberty also did not immediately respond to questions from the AP.

The development comes as the prominent evangelical school in Lynchburg faces continued scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault cases. It is facing other lawsuits that raise similar allegations.

The recently settled lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York and made various claims under Title IX, the federal law that protects against sex discrimination in education.

It alleged that Liberty’s strict honor code makes it “difficult or impossible” for students to report sexual violence. It said the university had a “tacit policy” of weighting investigations in favor of accused male students, and it said the university retaliated against women who did make such reports.