EGN NEWS DESK
(CP) Officials at Liberty University advised The Christian Post they’ve made efforts to make sure correct compliance with Title IX laws following the college’s unprecedented settlement with the federal authorities.
The flagship evangelical college in Lynchburg, Virginia, settled with the U.S. Department of Education earlier this week, agreeing to pay $14 million associated to violations of the Clery Act that requires faculties and universities receiving federal funding to report knowledge of campus crime and report threats to college students.
The tremendous is the most important levied below the Clery Act, which was enacted in 1990.
The Education Department, which initially threatened a $37.5 million tremendous, mentioned it recognized a number of instances during which on-campus crimes had been misclassified or underreported. Federal officers additionally accused the college of failing to warn the group about fuel leaks, bomb threats and people who’ve been credibly accused of repeated acts of sexual violence.
Liberty University President Dondi E. Costin, who was employed final yr, advised CP the college did not absolutely adjust to its record-keeping and reporting obligations because the establishment skilled file progress, for which he expressed remorse. He mentioned Liberty sprung into motion when officers discovered of its shortcomings earlier than the Education Department bought concerned.
“We fashioned a process drive to establish each deficiency and engaged outdoors consultants to assist us construct the mannequin program we now have,” Costin mentioned. “Having invested greater than $10 million to ship important will increase in staffing, coaching, infrastructure, know-how and programming, I can say with absolute confidence that Liberty University now units the tempo for campus security and safety.”
Ashley Reich, Liberty’s chief compliance officer, advised CP that the college recruited an out of doors marketing consultant to overview its Title IX insurance policies. That marketing consultant, she mentioned, supplied 99 suggestions to deliver Liberty into compliance.
“A process drive was created in October 2022 to overview the suggestions and put a timeframe round them for implementation,” Reich mentioned. “All of the suggestions (plus, many others) had been absolutely carried out by August 2023 with many who had been accomplished throughout the first 90 days of the overview.”
Reich mentioned that the college intends to take care of constant oversight relating to inside high quality management and customary enterprise apply by way of the current creation of Liberty University’s Office of University Compliance.
The exterior marketing consultant firm Healy+ assisted Liberty with conducting a full-scale overview of its compliance with the Clery Act, Reich defined, including that the college voluntarily carried out a Program Improvement Plan in October 2022 that outlined lots of the Clery necessities and finest practices.
“This allowed us to deal with the principle violations that many faculties wrestle to adjust to as a result of nuances of the Clery Act,” she mentioned. “Our staff went to work shortly to search out methods to not solely adjust to the Clery Act however achieve this effectively.”
Costin mentioned college students and alumni have “overwhelmingly expressed their appreciation for Liberty’s transparency in acknowledging previous deficiencies, our demonstrated dedication to repair what was damaged, and our important investments in reworking our operation right into a benchmark program different universities can now mannequin.”
“If it is Christian, it should be higher,” Costin mentioned, quoting Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell, Sr. “Because of the spectacular progress that has been made, our college students and alumni can see that now we have achieved that customary with respect to our Clery Act compliance.”
© The Christian Post
