A former Title IX investigator at Liberty College is suing the personal evangelical establishment, alleging he was fired for reporting sexual harassment throughout the workplace to his superiors, USA Immediately reported.
Peter Brake, a former investigator in Liberty’s Title IX workplace from 2019 to 2024 (together with a three-and-a-half-year depart of absence for lively army obligation), alleges he was fired in June after he raised considerations about “a number of violations of regulation” to his supervisor and reported situations of sexual harassment of coworkers by one other investigator, in line with a duplicate of the lawsuit.
Brake additionally alleged that the identical investigator, Nathan Friesema, was inappropriately directing the result of Title IX circumstances, together with asking main questions and enhancing complaints.
(Friesema didn’t reply to a request for remark from Inside Increased Ed despatched through LinkedIn.)
Brake’s lawsuit alleges that Friesema subjected a coworker within the Title IX workplace to inappropriate jokes, together with about sexual assault. Brake finally introduced the considerations to Liberty College president Dondi Costin in late 2023 and to his supervisor, Ashley Reich. Nevertheless, Brake alleges that he was then “interrogated” by LU’s human sources division and fired.
“Liberty College has obtained information of this lawsuit by a former worker, and we’re reviewing particulars of the case. Liberty takes all allegations of wrongdoing severely and has neutral measures in place to guarantee the honest and equal therapy of all workers. Whereas we won’t reply to those allegations within the media right now, we disagree with the lawsuit’s claims and are ready to defend ourselves in court docket,” a Liberty spokesperson wrote by electronic mail.
The lawsuit comes lower than a yr after the U.S. Division of Schooling decided that LU did not adjust to federal campus crime–reporting necessities and officers discouraged victims from coming ahead, weaponizing LU’s code of conduct in opposition to sexual abuse survivors.
Liberty was hit with a $14 million advantageous for varied violations final March and is required, per an settlement with ED, to spend $2 million on campus security and compliance enhancements. The college can be on postreview monitoring by April 2026 to make sure it enacts enhancements.
