Conservative university alleges government threatening it with eight-figure fine over compliance with Clery Act
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EXCLUSIVE - Liberty University is firing back at the U.S. Department of Education, claiming that a department official leaked a report alleging it covered up sexual assault incidents and generally underreported crime on campus to preserve a clean reputation.
The Washington Post published an article earlier this month on a DOE investigator’s report on the school’s Clery Act compliance which was released on May 1, saying it showed the school routinely failed to keep its campus safe, underreporting crime claims and discouraging reports of it in the first place. Colleges that participate in federal financial aid programs must keep and disclose crime statistics and other timely information about campus safety. In 2020-2021, Liberty University received $874 million for student loans and grants from the DOE.
Officials at the private evangelical university in Virginia deny the claims laid out in the DOE's findings. Liberty's president worried that the leak of the DOE's findings to the Post will impact negotiations with the DOE and believes someone leaked the report to "poison the well." Additionally, the school says it's been threatened with an unprecedented $37.5 million fine, which would be far more than recent fines levied on universities by the Department of Education, such as a $4.5-million one slapped on Michigan State over the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
"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. And so that's the biggest issue," Liberty University President Dr. Dondi E. Costin told Fox News Digital.
President Biden with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. Liberty University is a well-known private evangelical school and one of the largest Christian universities in the world. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"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."
Co-founded by Christian Right activist and televangelist Jerry Falwell, Sr., Liberty is known for its conservative honor code that governs personal behavior, such as prohibiting premarital sex. It's also had strong ties to President Trump. Liberty presides over 48,000 students and is located in Lynchburg, Virginia.
Costin alleged that before they could build a case to the DOE before a deadline on June 30 to dispute the findings, the report was leaked.
The university released a statement reporting that it "made significant advancements" in safety since October last year.
"I think if you look in the Department of Education report, what you will see are a number of unsupported assertions of bad faith. It's as if they are mind-reading the university," Costin, who was appointed by the board in March, said.
"They are making claims about our intentions. They're claiming that we acted in bad faith. I think there are 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," he continued. "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… I would say, in bad faith, and in many cases there are misstatements of legal requirements."
According to the Washington Post, anonymous sources revealed that Liberty University violated the Clery Act due to "a fundamental lack of administrative ability to keep the campus safe."
"It found the school did not adequately take complaints of crimes, produce incident reports, warn the campus of emergencies and threats to safety, advise crime victims of their rights or handle the data needed for crime statistics," the Post reported.
These include "gas leaks, bomb threats, and people credibly accused of repeated acts of sexual violence."
Furthermore, the Post's reporting claimed the DOE report lays out serious sexual assault accusations against top brass officials and an athlete. It included that a former president was among the perpetrators that committed a rape. However, no sexual assault perpetrator was identified as the investigation "focused on whether allegations were reported, not whether they could be substantiated."
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Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
The DOE investigation also cites students’ complaints about the university’s "honor code" – community guidelines that, for instance, promote chastity. Their complaints address that the guidelines discourage sexual assault victims or witnesses from speaking up.
Students and witnesses who reported sexual violence were allegedly questioned about their alcoholic or sexual history or any way that could have contributed to what led to their predicament.
Moreover, in February 2022, when the DOE notified Liberty University that it would be reviewed for its Clery Act compliance and to keep any records relevant for an investigation, the DOE report allegedly said that "senior officials in HR sought the assistance of IT staff to wipe certain computer hard drives on April 26, 2022, the very week that the review team first visited the campus."
While schools must publish an annual safety report and make daily crime logs publicly available, DOE investigators allegedly found that Liberty University distributed annual reports to students and staff from 2018 to 2021 but then later changed the statistics and posted them on the school’s website without letting them know.
According to reporting from the Washington Post, "The preliminary report contends that the university failed to adequately maintain the records required for oversight and selectively destroyed or removed some records."
The article states that two people familiar with the conclusions of the DOE’s investigation confirmed the findings, though they spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the confidential nature of the document.
"We stand by our reporting and we protect our sources," a Washington Post spokesperson told Fox News Digital when reached for comment.
Liberty University is midway through an appeal process to lower the potential fine.
If the DOE has probable cause that a college violated the Clery Act compliance standards, the university can respond to and dispute a preliminary report before the department makes a final determination.
The Washington Post's logo. (Oliver Contreras/For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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The DOE did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.
Joshua focuses on politics, education policy ranging from the local to the federal level, and the parental uprising in education.
Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Political Science and is an alum of the National Journalism Center and the Heritage Foundation's Young Leaders Program.
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