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Liberty University President Dr. Dondi E. Costin told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the Department of Education "used a completely different standard" when investigating their compliance with federal college campus safety standards.
LU was ordered to pay a $14 million fine from the office of Federal Student Aid as a result of a settlement agreement over "material and ongoing violations of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), including with respect to its published crime statistics and treatment of sexual assault survivors."
"When we were deciding on how we were going to approach the Department of Education about what we thought would be a reasonable and fair find based on historic norms, what we found is that they were using a completely different standard for us," Costin said.
Liberty University’s Chief Compliance Officer added that based on a review of every publicly available Clery Act Program Review and Fine Notices, the ED's fining approach to LU was "unprecedented" and it lacked a basis for "imposing such excessive fines given the Department’s longstanding precedent."
Ashley Reich, the Compliance Officer, explained that they found that the ED "deviated from its traditional practices."
"For example, for violations like administrative capability, campus security authorities, and policy statements, the Department has historically applied a one-time fine, which was typically far less than the statutory maximum for one year," Reich said.
She continued, "For Liberty, the Department proposed a fine for every year of the review period within the statute of limitations (5 years) at the maximum fine per year, which meant the difference between the average fine for other universities of $37,000 (for administrative capability) versus a $337,720 maximum fine for Liberty University."
Reich went on to cite similar examples of "excess fines" for violations in crime statistics and completing a daily crime log.
President Biden with Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Costin explained further that the team "reviewed" 60 previous reports on Clery Act compliance by comparing the Education Department’s methodology in investigating LU with other institutions’ compliance with federal safety standards.
"There was a stark difference," Costin said.
He explained further, "And so it really, on its face, was just a matter of how the math was done. And the math, in our case, was done radically different than it had been in previous cases."
The amount LU is ordered to pay is the largest fine ever imposed for violating the Clery Act.
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 Education Department.
As a part of the settlement, Liberty, the most influential Christian university in the U.S., agreed to spend "$2 million over the next two years for on-campus safety improvements and compliance enhancements" and an outside accounting firm will monitor the progress of such measures.
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Liberty University President Dr. Dondi E. Costin told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the Department of Education "used a completely different standard" when investigating their compliance with federal college campus safety standards. (Lee Coleman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Among the findings is a lack of administrative capability, which meant LU failed to take action to meet the standards of Clery Act compliance between 2016 and 2023. Furthermore, as universities are expected to comply with sexual violence prevention and response requirements of the Clery Act, ED reported that LU failed to take action against such measures, thus, failing to comply with the Violate Against Women Act requirements.
Among 11 violations founded by ED, the federal department reported that LU failed to properly classify and disclose crime statistics. While schools must publish an annual safety report and make daily crime logs publicly available, ED reported that "Liberty failed to maintain accurate and complete daily crime logs throughout the review period."
After ED's investigation, a process conducted through written requests for information and numerous interviews, the Department sent LU a program review report in May 2023.
LU submitted several responses on June 30, 2023, to dispute the review report through November 2023, according to ED.
Costin told Fox News Digital that some findings were not sustained during their discussions with ED.
Before the settlement, LU disputed other findings in a leaked preliminary report and denied several of the accusations laid out in the report, including alleged sexual assault reports involving top brass officials at the university and how the university's "honor code," which promotes chastity, discourages sexual assault victims or witnesses from speaking up.
The leak came as LU was building a case to overturn several incorrect findings in the ED's preliminary report.
While they were addressing concerns last fall, Costin was worried that the leak of the ED's findings to the media would impact negotiations with the Education Department and believed someone leaked the report to "poison the well."
Additionally, the school was being threatened with an unprecedented $37.5 million fine at the time, which was far more than recent fines levied on universities by the Education Department, such as a $4.5-million fine slapped on Michigan State over the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal.
Costin doubled down on the investigation into their compliance with the Clery Act.
LU was ordered to pay a $14 million fine from the office of Federal Student Aid as a result of a settlement agreement over "material and ongoing violations of the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), including with respect to its published crime statistics and treatment of sexual assault survivors." (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
"This investigation of Liberty was expedited and rushed, in ways that are at least odd, if nothing else," Costin added.
"Is it because we're a faith-based institution? Is it because we're politically conservative? I can't answer that. But what I will say is that it's at least odd that this happened when the current administration has been so vocal against schools and institutions like ours," he said.
Regarding Liberty’s claim that the investigation was "expedited" and "rushed," ED pushed back claiming the contrary–that the investigators proceeded at an appropriate pace.
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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 known for its strong ties to prominent Republicans like former President Trump.
Located in Lynchburg, Va., Liberty has over 130,000 students, including in its online programs.
The article was updated to include information from the Department of Education.
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