When Dustin Wahl enrolled at Liberty University in fall 2014, he never imagined he one day would lead a group to bring reform to Liberty. Nor did he think he would be advocating for future students not to attend his alma mater.
Although he doesn’t believe he or his advocacy group, Save71, influenced the recent decision by the U.S. Department of Education to fine the school for not properly informing students of safety issues, he did play a role in documenting the case.
Dustin Wahl
Wahl gave testimony to the Department of Education regarding issues reported by students and staff: “We had a tip line on our website where people from the administration would reach out, someone even came to my house, knocked on my door, and found my address, and started sharing information regarding Liberty.”
The independent Baptist school’s violations of the Clery Act could have resulted in fines up to $37.5 million. This week, the university announced it had settled the claim for $14 million plus $2 million in additional campus safety measures.
Wahl acknowledged fighting for reform at Liberty has cost him personally — from losing friends to fearing he will be sued by the university or its allies. But it’s all been worth the cost, he said.
“I’ve always said that if Liberty was going to change it would have to come from outside entities like the Department of Education,” he said. “The only thing that would lead to significant policy would be an investigation from the federal government, from the IRS, Department of Education, or from its accreditation body.”
How to be a watchdog for one of the largest private universities in the world was not something he thought he would learn at the Lynchburg, Va., school. “I really wanted to go to Liberty when I was in high school, because I was into politics and a conservative Christian.”
Once there, however, he began to learn about the underside of the school he admired. Now, he and Save71 serve as a moral conscience to the university, calling out bad behavior and demanding change.
Save71 began in 2020, right before President Jerry Falwell Jr. was ousted amid a scandal.
“Our three goals for starting Save71 were to be a source of information for the campus, for anyone on campus who might want to do something, to be a source of information for the public and for the media and for potential regulators.”
While he believes positive changes are being made — sometimes by outside force — he remains concerned about the university’s lack of acknowledgement of its historical problems.
Screencap from Save71 website
Liberty President Dondi Costin has insinuated in the past that Liberty was being mistreated and singled out for persecution by the Department of Education.
The news release posted to the university’s website announcing the settlement continued that narrative: “Many of the (DOE) methodologies, findings and calculations in the report were drastically different from their historic treatment of other universities. Liberty disagrees with this unfair treatment. … While the university maintains that we have repeatedly endured selective and unfair treatment by the Department, the university also concurs there were numerous deficiencies that existed in the past.”
Given that language, Wahl is skeptical there has been real change.
Earlier, in a chapel service, President Costin told faculty, staff and students: “ As soon as we figured out what was wrong, we fixed it.”
“Liberty University learned what was wrong in 2005, didn’t fix it after an investigation in 2010, and destroyed evidence during this investigation.”
Wahls sees it differently: “That’s not true at all. Liberty University learned what was wrong in 2005, didn’t fix it after an investigation in 2010, and destroyed evidence during this investigation.” And some administrators who were part of the stonewalling are still employed by the university, he added.
He believes the DOE has been aboveboard in its investigation and reporting.
“They just wanted to get to the truth,” he said. “One of the members on the team was a conservative Christian. These are career federal government employees. They’re not appointees. They’re employees. They’re not in place because Biden is president. They’re just people whose job is to enforce the law.”
Costin is right that Liberty was singled out, Wahl said. “Liberty was absolutely singled out because they tried to hide more than any other institution in trying to cover up.”
His mission and that of Save71 is to uncover and bring light to the dark places of Liberty University. For now, he sees this verdict as one step toward the light.
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