“The Liberty Way”: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students’ Reports of Sexual Assaults

Hannah Dreyfus of ProPublica reports that Liberty University has been accused of  mishandling cases of sexual assault reported by female students. Dreyfus writes, “Interviews with more than 50 former Liberty students and staffers, as well as records from more than a dozen cases, show how an ethos of sexual purity, as embodied by the Liberty Way, has led to school officials discouraging, dismissing and even blaming female students who have tried to come forward with claims of sexual assault.” Purity culture, which affects how the school has handled sexual assault claims, is spelled out in the university’s extensive honor code, which states that sex outside of a marriage between a man and a woman is strictly prohibited.

Read at ProPublica

© 2011 Religion & Politics