ABC13 Exclusive: Liberty University president speaks out days before $14M Clery Act fine

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WSET) — Liberty University's president said the school is forging ahead on a new course after a massive $14 million fine was levied against the university for Clery Act violations.

The Clery Act requires colleges and universities to report campus crime data, support victims of violence, and publicly outline the policies and procedures they have put into place to improve campus safety.

Some of the findings include Liberty's failure to comply with several sexual violence prevention and response requirements, and failure to issue timely warnings to advise the campus community about criminal activity that may have posed a significant ongoing threat.

I spoke with Liberty University President Dr. Dondi Costin one week before the Department of Education announced the fine.

"And so, it certainly was the case in times past when Liberty wasn't doing the things that it should have been doing," Costin said. "We as a university, in terms of Clery geography and counting crimes and reporting them in the way that the Department of Education requires them to be reported, but those days are past."

Costin became LU's president in July 2023. He's the school's 6th president who served as the president of Charleston Southern University before that. He is also is a retired major general with more than 30 years of military service. Instilling pride at Liberty and beyond is a big part of his mission.

"I'm a two-time alum of Liberty University, so very familiar with the mission, very familiar with Dr. Falwell's vision and all that. And when I got here, what I discovered is, yes, it's larger," Costin said. "Yes, there is it's more complex, but you have a lot more help. And the thing that I've seen is that Liberty University, you know, Dr. Falwell used to say all the time, if it's Christian, it'll be better."

Not long ago, Costin told staff and others that he'd like to change the culture at the university.

"And what I mean by that is that we should act like Jesus Christ. If you're a supervisor at Liberty University, whether you're a grounds supervisor or you're a dean of a college, or you're a back office accountant, you should be a Christian yourself. You should be growing in your faith, you should understand that their food of the spirit is something that, as you mature in your faith, ought to be reflected more and more and more in your own interactions, both at home and at work. And so really what we want to do is just live our faith in the workplace and do it in a way that the expectation is that everybody lives like Christ in the workplace," said Costin.

In October 2023, The Washington Post reported on preliminary confidential findings from an Education Department inquiry on L.U.

Then came reports that a fine of nearly $40M could be assessed.

The $14M fine against Liberty is now the largest ever by the Education Department.

RELATED: 'It is a new day': Liberty University responds to $14 million Clery Act settlement

Then, in late January, a group of U.S. House Republicans asked for a briefing on the purported review.

In a letter, the Republicans, including Virginia 5-District Congressman Bob Good, said, “We write to express deep concern about how the U.S. Department of Education seems to be targeting religious institutions through program reviews and fines that greatly exceed established and documented precedent."

Costin believes those lawmakers might be on to something.

"Yeah, I think there's no question about it. I think if you look at not just Liberty, but if you look at every kind of conservative, theological, a biblically oriented institution, I think that the positions that we hold are under attack. And we look at the way we were dealt with versus the way they had dealt with others. Yeah, I'd say I think there's something there. I think it's undeniable. Yeah, I think it's undeniable," said Costin.

Costin says the university has spent more than $10 million on safety upgrades by installing more than a thousand new cameras throughout campus with enhanced facial recognition, license plate readers, and advanced screening & detection capabilities.

But as a part of the settlement with the Department of Education, Liberty agreed to spend $2 million over the next two years for additional on-campus safety improvements and compliance enhancements.

"I can say to any parent, any student that you need not worry if you come here and that includes Title IX as well," Costin said. "I would just say, if you look at our program now, which has been now about two years in the making, it's a mature, developed, robust program that we can show every t crossed, every i dotted."