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Liberty University Case Analysis

Whitney Ballard

HEAL 227

Dr. Gonzalez
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Liberty University Case Analysis

Summary of the issue

Sexual assault is one of the top issues that happens on college campuses. Some of these

cases go unknown because the victim does not want to relieve the incident. Or sometimes

nothing happens with the case because institutions are businesses and they rather uphold their

image. Certain policies that institutions create have a history of not protecting their students, so

they continue to let history repeat itself. Policies need to change overtime or else they will

continue to hinder the growth of the institution and continue to hurt their students. This leads me

to the sexual assault cases at Liberty University that continue to be dimissed and put under the

rug. Liberty University was founded by Jerry Falwell and was recognized as an accredited

university in 1985. The university continues to mistreat victims, so the victims decided to take a

stand together. Back in July of this year twelve women came together and filed a lawsuit against

the university. Within the lawsuit the women claimed that the university’s policies made it nearly

impossible for them to report sexual assault. The Christian University has an honor code called

The Liberty Way; which “ requires students to abstain from sex before marriage, as well as

drinking alcohol or smoking. Violating the rules can result in a fine, a requirement for

community service or even expulsion” ( Kelderman, 2021).

Since there is a strict adherence to this code it hinders students from being comfortable

enough to report sexual violence incidents to the university without facing consequences.

Kelderman states “ women who report being victims of sexual violence have repeatly found

themselves in jeopardy of violating the code of conduct” (Kelderman, 2021). With an honor code

like this in place, this causes their students to know that if they speak up they will face backlash

because they went against the Liberty Way. And everyone at the university will do what they can
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to protect the honor code, even if that means letting the victim's assalent walk free because she

was drinking or because she is not supposed to be alone with a male student. This is what led

twelve women to come together to file a lawsuit against the institution because their honor code

blamed the victims for going against the code, while the school did nothing to protect them.

Research on the issue

Now digging deeper into the lawsuit it “ claims Liberty University created an unsafe

campus environment, saying it ‘ has intentionally created a campus environment where sexual

assults and rapes are foreseeably more likely to occur than they would in the absense of Liberty’s

policies” (WDBJ7 Staff, 2021). The women within the lawsuit were either former Liberty

students or former employees. They all went by the name of Jane Doe one through twelve, thus

protecting their name. The lawsuit claims that there are three ways that Liberty University has

created its environment where students feel unsafe to even report about sexual assault. The first

way is “ their honor code which makes it difficult to report sexual violence because it doesnt

clearly shield students making the reports from punishment for infractions, including being at a

place where alcohol is served- or being alone with a member of the opposite sex” ( Jones &

Silverman, 2021). A code of conduct like this is likely to be found at most conservative

faith-based colleges because of the religious views that are embedded within the institution. Scott

Schneider states “ But unlike Liberty, many of those institutions are recognizing that it’s more

important to encourage students to report sexual misconduct than to enforce conduct-code

provisions that might keep them silent” ( Kelderman, 2021).

If victims get punished for speaking up against sexual misconduct then they may fear

telling their story and decide to stay quite. Some faith based institutions are making changes to

how they handle sexual assult reports such as Brigham Young University. According to
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Kelderman “ five years ago they announced that students reporting sexual misconduct would be

immune from other possible violations of the BYU’s “Honor Code” ( Kelderman, 2021). This

code which is similar to Liberty University as it “ forbids comsuption of alcohol, premarial sex,

and even being in the bedroom of a student of the opposite gender” ( Kelderman, 2021). Students

of BYU mentioned how it was about time for a decision like this to be made to help students

dealing with sexual assault. The second part of the lawsuit states “ there is a tacit policy that

condones sexual violence, particularly by male student althletes, by weighing a denail more

heavily than an allegation” (Jones & Silverman, 2021). This pretty much allows them to deny

whatever happened in order for them to face less of a punishment. And the last claim is “ the

plantiffs claim that the school engages in public and repeated retaliation against women who

have reported sexual violence” ( Jones & Silverman, 2021). When institutions are meant to

protect their students and support them, liberty university continues to fail to do that. The

institution continues to protect their image and whatever is best for them instead of what is best

for the victims. When a victim has enough courage to come forward about what happened they

are shunned and blamed for their actions instead of being helped.

I felt it was necessary to mention one of Jane Doe’s stories, so I want to focus on Jane

Doe 3. Once she reached out to her resident advisor “ she was told that she would suffer penalties

for reporting that she had been sexually assaulted by a student athlete after a party because the

school would penalize her for drinking, the lawsuit claims” ( Jones & Silverman, 2021). A code

like this is harmful to past and present victims of sexual assualt because it enstills fear within

them that they have to suffer for the trauma they went through. Jane Doe 3 decided to still file a

report because she knew that was best for her and because of it “ she was forced to undergo

spiritual guidance” (Jones & Silverman, 2021). What was also eye opening about this case is that
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Jane Doe 3 actually had physical evidence ( photos) of the bruises she suffered during her attack.

The student had evidence to make her case highly credible when it comes to filing a lawsuit.

Evidence that the school knew would cause harm to their image so “ she later discovered the

evidence had been removed from her Title IX investigative file for being “ too explicit”

according to the suit” (Jones & Silverman, 2021). This is highly unethical as this has caused

great harm to the student and took away her chance of winning against a case like this. Liberty

University decided to make a decision for the student without even asking for her consent. This

is just an example of one of the attempts from this university as they continue to silence the

victims. They continue to treat the victims as the one who caused the harm instead of the one

who was harmed. Institutions like this are willing to risk the lives of their students to continue to

do everything in their power to protect their image and their name

Ethical Implications

When it comes to the CAS ethical principles Liberty University for starters is not living

up to Principle 1- Autonomy. This principle states “ we take responsibility for our actions and

both support and empower an individuals and groups freedom of choice. This ties into their tacit

policy “ that condones sexual violence, particularly by male student athletes, by weighing a

denail more heavily than an allegation” ( CAS Standards). As an institution they are allowing

their male athlete students to deny any incident of sexual violence that is brought up against them

instead of them taking full responsibility for their actions. They are implying that if they deny the

claims, they will ensure that their athletes can still be athletes. This is them making sure they do

not believe the victim, but worry about their institutions image and besides what institutions

wants word out there about a student athlete being accused of sexual violence. They continue to

place blame on the victims and let the perpetrators walk free and not be held accountable for
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their actions. The next CAS standard would be Principle 2- Non- Malfeasance which states “ we

pledge to do no harm”. This is a standard they are not being held too, one of the articles I read

talked about how one of the title five staff members started an email chain with a victim and their

perpetrator talking about the situation. The victim had no clue about this, something like this did

not have to happen. They could have kept the information confidential like they are supposed to

and support the victims right to stay anonymous. Also they failed to uphold ACPA code 4.2

which talks about the welfare of all students and their safety. Liberty University does not listen to

their student voices, even when their students repeatedly asked them to put Emergency Blue

Boxes up around campus. And the last code is ACPA 3.2 which talks about having to modify an

institutions policies and this is something Liberty needs to work on when it comes to their honor

code.

Recommendations

I wanted to briefly mention Justice for Janes which is a christian, student-led movement

advocating for systemic reforms at Liberty University to protect students from sexual violence

and harassment. Some of the things they want the school to implement would be an Independent

Audit “ they feel Liberty should hire a third party to audit its Human Resources and Title IX

offices to investigate potential areas of corruption and mismanagement” (Justice for Janes,

2021). The people on the inside that have power continue to fail their students so someone on the

outside needs to step in and help out. They also mentioned how Liberty needs emergency call

boxes “ since 2021 these requests from students have been brushed aside by liberty’s

administration ( Justice for Janes, 2021). They are not taking into consideration their students

safety, if students are continuing to request these emergency blue lights then something needs to

be done. And lastly they want the university to have a “Universal Amnesty Policy” so they want
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to make sure that “ the university is encouraging students to report Title IX violations and make

sure they do not face any disciplinary consequences” ( Justice for Janes, 2021). I agree with these

recommendations, I feel it is time for this institution to shift to being student centered and

figuring out what is best for the safety of their students. They have to stop dismissing their

students and listen to their needs in order to create a safer campus environment for them. This

can only be done with outside help because their internal systems are built against their students.

And I find it is important for them to reevaluate their Liberty Honor Code in order to shift

towards a positive outlooks for victims.

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Reference Page

12 women file lawsuit against Liberty University, claiming failures of Title IX office. (2021).
https://www.nbc12.com/2021/07/20/12-women-file-lawsuit-against-liberty-university-claiming-f
ailures-title-ix-office/

Anon (2021).
https://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/media/liberty_sexual_assault_does_la
wsuit.pdf

Jones, K., & Silverman, H. (2021). Liberty University sued by 12 women claiming school
policies made sexual assault and rape more likely.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/21/us/liberty-university-sexual-assault-lawsuit/index.html

Justice for Janes - Liberty University Sexual Assault Victims - Justice for Janes. (2021).
https://www.justiceforjanes.com/

Kelderman, E. (2021). Does the ‘Liberty Way’ Discourage Reports of Sexual

Assault?.https://www.chronicle.com/article/does-the-liberty-way-discourage-students-from-repor
ting-sexual-assault?bc_nonce=mlclm48y32cp2choh0cj9d&cid=reg_wall_signup

Redden, E. (2021). Liberty under scrutiny for its handling of sexual assault. Retrieved 7
December 2021, from
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/11/19/liberty-under-scrutiny-its-handling-sexual-ass
ault
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