Students stroll throughout Liberty University’s campus in Lynchburg, Va.

Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AFP/Getty Images

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Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AFP/Getty Images

Students stroll throughout Liberty University’s campus in Lynchburg, Va.

Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/AFP/Getty Images

The U.S. Department of Education is fining Liberty University $14 million, the most important penalty on document, for failing to adjust to a federal campus crime-reporting legislation.

Department officers introduced the settlement Tuesday. It got here after a prolonged investigation that discovered quite a few violations of the Clery Act, a federal legislation that requires faculties to document, and warn their communities about, campus crimes and harmful conditions.

The division’s findings are detailed in a more than 100-page report, which describes how, from 2016 to 2023, the Christian college in Lynchburg, Va., demonstrated “serious, persistent, and systemic violations.” The report says the faculty discouraged college students from reporting crimes, didn’t adequately reply to incidents of sexual violence, failed to inform the campus about felony actions or harmful conditions (equivalent to gasoline leaks), and didn’t keep an correct or full listing of crimes.

Federal investigators reached out to about 100 people for this report, together with former and present college workers, college students and oldsters.

In addition to the $14 million greenback tremendous, the settlement additionally stipulates that Liberty spend $2 million on enhancements to campus security over the course of a two-year federal monitoring interval, which ends in April 2026.

“Students, faculty and staff deserve to know that they can be safe and secure in their school communities,” mentioned Richard Cordray, the chief working officer of the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid workplace. “We respond aggressively to complaints about campus safety and security.”

Cordray mentioned Liberty directors had acknowledged virtually all of the violations recognized within the report and have been dedicated to remedying them going ahead.

“Liberty is firmly committed to Clery Act compliance and the safety and security of our students and staff without exception,” the college said in a statement.

“While the university maintains that we have repeatedly endured selective and unfair treatment by the Department, the university also concurs there were numerous deficiencies that existed in the past. We acknowledge and regret these past failures and have taken these necessary improvements seriously.”

The college says the settlement cash is along with greater than $10 million it has already spent since 2022 to make “significant advancements” to campus security.

The $14 million tremendous is the most important Clery Act settlement but. In 2019, Michigan State University was fined $4.5 million for Clery Act violations, and in 2020 the University of California, Berkeley, was fined $2.35 million.