Penn State Accepts Historic $2.4 Million Fine For Late Reporting Of Sex Crimes

Pennylvania State University announced on Friday that they would accept the historically high $2.4 million fine levied upon them by the Department of Education for failing to report sex crimes in a timely fashion. It's the largest penalty ever imposed on a university for failing to comply with a law that requires prompt disclosure of campus crimes.

The fine was announced on November 4 and Penn State said that they had taken the time since then to review the report and present points on which they disagreed.

"As the Department of Education was compiling its final report, we appreciated the opportunity to provide context and perspective where we disagreed with the findings," school President Eric Barron said in a statement on Friday. "Despite that, we have accepted the fines and will continue to focus on our ongoing Clery compliance."

"Clery" refers to law in question: the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Police and Campus Crime Statistics Act. Officials investigated the university for the period from 1998 to 2011, covering the timeline of allegations of sexual abuse levied against Sandusky.

The investigation revealed that the university was guilty of eleven different kinds of violations. A fine was imposed for each violation. The greatest violation was "failure to properly classify reported incidents and disclose crime statistics from 2008-2011." That fine alone was $2,167,500.

“For colleges and universities to be safe spaces for learning and self-development, institutions must ensure student safety – a part of which is being transparent about incidents on their campuses. Disclosing this information is the law,” U.S. Education Under Secretary Ted Mitchell said in a statement earlier in the month.“When we determine that an institution is not upholding this obligation, then there must be consequences.”

Barron said that Penn State now has "robust" training on the Clery Act that will prevent this from happening in the future.

"We have many initiatives, including 18 focused on fighting sexual assault and misconduct, with the creation of new positions, mandatory employee training, a universal hotline and many others. Penn State has endorsed a standard of strict compliance, particularly over the past five years, and we will continue, and add as needed, numerous and vigorous efforts to create a culture of reporting, safety and accountability," Barron said.

The penalty against Penn State dwarfs the previous record fine under the Clery Act, which was $357,000 against Eastern Michigan University in 2007.

Patch file photo.