Liberty University students continue push for reforms; no confirmation on third-party investigation

LYNCHBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Thursday evening a rally was held to support sexual assault survivors and demand a third-party investigation of Liberty University’s Title IX handlings.

Earlier in the day, WDBJ7 was told the board of trustees’ executive committee approved one, but that the board would need to approve it next.

At the rally, we asked president Jerry Prevo about getting their approval.

“[An investigation] will be put into motion. It will be,” he said Thursday. “Our vision is to see where we need to make improvements. There will be a release of that investigation.”

Friday at the Liberty Mountain Conference Center, the pressured continued for the audit to get approved.

Students began a demonstration at the center before walking over to campus.

They made their way to the Hancock Welcome Center, where the board of trustees was meeting.

“We want them to go ahead and get this done today. If Jerry Prevo really supports us in the way he says he does, then this change should not be months down the road. This should be today, the first step of change and continued change past that,” said Hailey Wilkinson with Justice for Janes.

Although other measures such as blue light emergency boxes and cameras have been committed to, an audit is a top priority.

“All of us are deeply connected in some way to any of the Janes in the lawsuit or we’ve been affected personally by this issue, so for us to not back down and continue to showing up - we will do this until the university releases change,” said Wilkinson.

WDBJ7 reached out to Liberty University for an official confirmation on if a third-party investigation was approved Friday.

We did not immediately receive a response.

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