University Gets Record Fine for Fudging Crime Stats

Liberty University has agreed to pay an unprecedented $14 million fine for the Christian school's failure to disclose information about crimes on its campus and for its treatment of sexual assault survivors, the US Department of Education announced Tuesday. The fine is by far the largest ever levied under the Clery Act, a law that requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to collect data on campus crime and notify students of threats, per the AP. 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, with more than 15,000 students enrolled at the school in Lynchburg, Virginia. But its police department had a single officer with minimal oversight who was investigating crimes for most of the time period reviewed by federal investigators, 2016 to 2023. The Department of Education said it identified numerous cases that resulted in the misclassification or underreporting of crimes. And there were several incidents that the university determined to be unfounded without any clear showing that the initial report was false or baseless.

"This was especially common with respect to sexually based offenses, including rape and fondling cases, many of which were originally classified using non-specific or less specific codes such as sexual assault," the settlement stated. Investigators found that many victims of sexual crimes were fearful of reporting incidents because of fear of reprisal. "In fact, over the course of this review period, several sexual assault victims were punished for violating the student code of conduct known as 'The Liberty Way,' while their assailants were left unpunished," according to the settlement. The university said it is "fully committed to maintaining the safety and security of students and staff," and would continue to cooperate with the Department of Education. (More Liberty University stories.)