Liberty University fined record $14M over campus safety law violations

Dive Brief:

The U.S. Department of Education's Federal Student Aid office fined Liberty University, in Virginia, a record $14 million for violating a federal campus safety law, the agency announced Tuesday.
The fine is the largest ever imposed over violations of the 34-year-old Clery Act, which mandates that federally funded colleges provide notices about public safety issues and support victims of violence.
The Education Department said the evangelical institution had failed to provide accurate disclosures, comply with requirements to prevent sexual violence, issue timely warnings about criminal activities and send emergency notifications to the campus community about potentially dangerous situations.

Dive Insight:

The Education Department launched the investigation in February 2022 after receiving “several complaints” alleging Clery violations, the agency said Tuesday. The investigation also came after ProPublica published accounts in 2021 from college women who said their reports of sexual assault were dismissed and discouraged by Liberty officials.

With this fine, the Education Department is sending a message that it will hold colleges accountable if they don’t comply with the Clery Act, said Richard Cordray, Federal Student Aid’s chief operating officer.

“Schools are obligated to take action that creates safe and secure campus communities, investigate complaints, and responsibly disclose information about crimes and other safety concerns,” Cordray said in a statement Tuesday. “We will continue to hold schools accountable if they fail to do so.”

In October, the university told Fox News that the Education Department was considering fining it $37.5 million over Clery violations.

When asked why Tuesday’s fine was lower than this amount, a Federal Student Aid senior department official said “what was proposed” or said earlier was not relevant. The fine resulted from an extensive review, said the official, who spoke on background during a Q&A phone call with reporters.

“We’re imposing a $14 million fine,” the official said. “It is more than triple the largest fine ever imposed for violations of the Clery Act, and we think it sends a strong message today that these are serious matters that schools need to handle appropriately.”

The second-largest Clery fine was issued against Michigan State University in 2019. The Education Department fined the university $4.5 million following an investigation into how it handled reports against Larry Nassar, a former university doctor who sexually abused college athletes under the guise of medical treatment.

In Liberty’s case, the university has also agreed to spend an additional $2 million over the next two years to improve campus safety.

In a lengthy public statement, the university said it has invested $10 million since 2022 to improve campus infrastructure, security assets and surveillance equipment. It has also taken steps like hiring new personnel who are experts in areas like law enforcement and Title IX, the federal law requiring colleges to respond to and discipline sexual violence, the university said.

Liberty agreed that “numerous deficiencies” existed in the past, including “incorrect statistical reports” and failing to send timely emergency notifications.

“We acknowledge and regret these past failures and have taken these necessary improvements seriously,” it said.

However, Liberty also argued that it hasn’t been treated the same way as other universities.

“Many of the Department’s methodologies, findings, and calculations in the report were drastically different from their historic treatment of other universities,” it said. “Liberty disagrees with this unfair treatment.”

Education Department officials, however, said Liberty’s violations were extensive.

The agency's investigation found Liberty didn’t comply with multiple Clery requirements pertaining to sexual violence, such as notifying victims of their rights. The institution also failed to compile and publish accurate crime statistics from 2016 to 2021.

The Education Department will monitor Liberty through April 2026 to ensure the college follows through on its pledged improvements. Further Clery violations could jeopardize the terms of the university’s access to federal financial aid or result in further sanctions, the agency said.