(CP) Officials at Liberty University told The Christian Post they’ve made efforts to make sure proper compliance with Title IX regulations following the college’s unprecedented settlement with the federal government.
The flagship evangelical university in Lynchburg, Virginia, settled with the U.S. Department of Education earlier this week, agreeing to pay $14 million related to violations of the Clery Act that requires colleges and universities receiving federal funding to report data of campus crime and report threats to students.
The fantastic is the biggest levied under the Clery Act, which was enacted in 1990.
The Education Department, which initially threatened a $37.5 million fantastic, said it identified multiple cases during which on-campus crimes were misclassified or underreported. Federal officials also accused the university of failing to warn the community about gas leaks, bomb threats and individuals who’ve been credibly accused of repeated acts of sexual violence.
Liberty University President Dondi E. Costin, who was hired last 12 months, told CP the university didn’t fully comply with its record-keeping and reporting obligations because the institution experienced record growth, for which he expressed regret. He said Liberty sprung into motion when officials learned of its shortcomings before the Education Department got involved.
“We formed a task force to discover every deficiency and engaged outside experts to assist us construct the model program we now have,” Costin said. “Having invested greater than $10 million to deliver significant increases in staffing, training, infrastructure, technology and programming, I can say with absolute confidence that Liberty University now sets the pace for campus safety and security.”
Ashley Reich, Liberty’s chief compliance officer, told CP that the university recruited an out of doors consultant to review its Title IX policies. That consultant, she said, provided 99 recommendations to bring Liberty into compliance.
“A task force was created in October 2022 to review the recommendations and put a timeframe around them for implementation,” Reich said. “All of the recommendations (plus, many others) were fully implemented by August 2023 with many who were accomplished throughout the first 90 days of the review.”
Reich said that the college intends to keep up consistent oversight regarding internal quality control and standard business practice through the recent creation of Liberty University’s Office of University Compliance.
The external consultant company Healy+ assisted Liberty with conducting a full-scale review of its compliance with the Clery Act, Reich explained, adding that the college voluntarily implemented a Program Improvement Plan in October 2022 that outlined most of the Clery requirements and best practices.
“This allowed us to deal with the fundamental violations that many colleges struggle to comply with because of the nuances of the Clery Act,” she said. “Our team went to work quickly to search out ways to not only comply with the Clery Act but accomplish that efficiently.”
Costin said students and alumni have “overwhelmingly expressed their appreciation for Liberty’s transparency in acknowledging past deficiencies, our demonstrated commitment to repair what was broken, and our significant investments in transforming our operation right into a benchmark program other universities can now model.”
“If it’s Christian, it should be higher,” Costin said, quoting Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell, Sr. “Because of the impressive progress that has been made, our students and alumni can see that we now have achieved that standard with respect to our Clery Act compliance.”
