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253
Liberty University will pay $14 million, the largest fine ever levied under the federal Clery Act (apnews.com)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/news
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The fine is by far the largest ever levied under the Clery Act, a law that requires colleges and universities that receive federal funding to collect data on campus crime and notify students of threats. Schools must disseminate an annual security report that includes crime reports and information on efforts to improve campus safety.

Liberty has marketed itself for years as having one of the nation’s safest campuses. The Washington Post and USA Today reported in October that preliminary findings by federal investigators described a university that discouraged people from reporting crimes and could not provide basic documentation about crime on campus.

The U.S. Department of Education said it identified numerous cases that resulted in the misclassification or underreporting of crimes. And there were several incidents that the university determined to be unfounded without any clear showing that the initial report was false or baseless.

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[–] Zombiepirate 54 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Relevant context for Liberty University regarding their tax exempt status:

In 1975, the Ford administration began trying to deny segregation academies their tax-exempt status on the basis that they perpetuated segregation. In 1979, Falwell denounced this "intervention against Christian schools", which had become a policy of the Carter administration.

This was the inciting incident that led the "moral" "majority" to take up abortion as a wedge issue, since racial integration was starting to have more widespread support.

These assholes shouldn't be getting a dime of federal funding.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

"If you gave [Jerry Falwell] an enema, he could be buried in a matchbox."

-Christopher Hitchens on the Event of Jerry Falwell's Death in 2012

[–] [email protected] 29 points 9 months ago (1 children)

“This was especially common with respect to sexually based offenses, including rape and fondling cases, many of which were originally classified using non-specific or less specific codes such as sexual assault,” the settlement agreement stated.

Federal investigators found that many victims of sexual crimes were fearful of reporting their incidents because of fear of reprisal.

Sex crimes, culture of silence, and two Corinthians??? This university really has it all! Thank God we have such morally strict institutions to teach our youth how to be proper Christians.

“In fact, over the course of this review period, several sexual assault victims were punished for violating the student code of conduct known as ‘The Liberty Way,’ while their assailants were left unpunished,” according to the settlement agreement.

THESE BABY-SAVERS REALLY KNOW HOW TO PROTECT OUR KIDS! I SURE AM FUCKING GLAD THEY'RE BANNING DRAG QUEENS AND BOOKS FROM LIBRARIES! THANK FUCK FOR THE LIBERTY WAY

/s

[–] homesweethomeMrL 10 points 9 months ago

Man you’re not even going to mention the jizzed out three-ways of Falwell jr, his wife, and the pool boy?

Guy can’t get arrested in that town!

[–] numberfour002 23 points 9 months ago

I used to be friends with a guy who was getting a graduate degree from Liberty. He apparently only did it because he was a member of the Falwell family so the courses were free for him.

He was pursuing an "online" degree, which at the time meant that the school sent him DVDs of the lectures and he had to take quizzes and exams online. Neither of us was particularly religious, so he kind of got a kick out of showing me the highlights of the lectures on DVD.

Those lectures were ... something else. It really didn't matter what the subject matter was, biology, statistics, psychology: The first 10 - 20 minutes of all the lectures was basically a church service. There were prayers and Bible stories, things like that. There would be about 10 - 15 minutes of actual course instruction. And they would work in religion as much as possible during that time. All the examples were focused on religion, it was super weird. And then the final 10 - 20 minutes would be wrapping up with more prayers and Bible study.

The quizzes and exams weren't much better. The "problems" were so simple that you mostly didn't even need to read the books or watch the lecture to answer the questions. All the open ended word problem were religion/Bible oriented, very hamfisted. You almost had to make an effort to make anything less than 80% on these things.

So needless to say, I try not to judge too much, but I think about my buddy's educational experience any time I see someone with a degree from that university.

[–] FlyingSquid 19 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Cost of doing business.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

As a person who grew up in several Christian schools (one "normal" Baptist one, one boarding school, one abusive boarding school), Christian schools really do think they are special because they are "divine". They are very out-of-touch.

[–] homesweethomeMrL 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Liberty has marketed itself for years as having one of the nation’s safest campuses, with more than 15,000 students enrolled at the school in Lynchburg, Virginia. But its police department had a single officer with minimal oversight for investigating crimes during most of the time period reviewed by federal investigators, 2016 to 2023.

Okay, soooooo . . .

[–] peopleproblems 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lynchburg

Idk seems like a pretty accurate town name

[–] [email protected] 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like a lot not reported were various sexual assault crimes. Make sense they wouldn't report them since the Christian church doesn't view women as people so to them there was no crime. Pathetic.

[–] captainlezbian 2 points 9 months ago

Hey, they likely see it as property crime like their book says to

[–] haulyard 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Check out the Gangster Capitalism podcast for a very interesting and in depth look at Liberty University. All sorts of shenanigans and foolery going on.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gangster-capitalism/id1460320573

[–] BeMoreCareful 3 points 9 months ago

That was really interesting and super on topic with this post. I highly recommend it as well.

I had zero idea what I was getting into when I started the podcast. A wild ride.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I've never met a normal Liberty grad.

[–] MossBear 6 points 9 months ago

I'm one unfortunately. It just happened to be during a time in my life when I was intensely religious. It's my one of my top three all-time regrets. Now I'm not conservative, not religious and I wish any affiliation with that awful school could be scrubbed from existence.

[–] d00phy 6 points 9 months ago

Yeah, I always refer to Liberty as “kinda-college”