← Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities
Campus Files: Scandals, Secrets & Crimes at American Universities
Gangster Capitalism S3: Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University | Bonus: Jane Does v. Liberty
01:15:04
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- [00:02]
Chelsea Andrews
If fashion is your thing, ebay is it. Ebay is where I find all my favorites from handbags to iconic streetwear. All authenticated for real this time. A little supreme, some Gucci. I even have that vintage Prada on my watch list. That's why ebay's my go to for all my go tos. Yeah ebay the place for new pre loved vintage and rare fashion. Ebay things people love.
- [00:32]
Zach Levitt
C13 originals.
- [00:37]
Narrator
A warning before we begin this episode contains stories of sexual violence. Please use discretion when listening.
- [00:47]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
I was at Liberty from 2011 to 2015 and when I started at the school, I did not identify as being a Christian before I got to Liberty, and the first day of class is my freshman year, I went to Evangelism 101 and I really actually did find my faith when I was at Liberty. So I had this background that Liberty thought was beautiful and that I came to the school and I became saved.
- [01:17]
Narrator
This is Chelsea Andrews. Chelsea also became the embodiment of what an extraordinarily successful Liberty student looks like. She was her freshman, junior and senior class president, as well as the president of the Young Women for America Club, the campus concerns chairman in student government, a campus relations specialist, a founding Dean's council member, a member of the College Republicans, and a prayer and life group leader. Her list of awards and honors at Liberty go on and on and on.
- [01:56]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
And I also worked in the student conduct office. I was a student appeals court justice. So students who got reprimands at the time we called them that. Now they're called points, students who got in trouble for violating the Liberty Way. I was one of very few people who those students then appealed to.
- [02:11]
Narrator
If you've been listening to gangster capitalism this season, you'll remember, of course, that the Liberty Way is the strict moral code of conduct that students must adhere to. Students can accrue points for violations such as drinking alcohol or having sexual relations outside of a biblically ordained marriage between a natural born man and a natural born woman. Points can result in punishments, including fines, community service, even expulsion. Chelsea knew firsthand the pressures put on students to maintain the image that Liberty required of them, especially women and especially women who reported sexual assault and violence on campus.
- [03:02]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Purity Culture for the people who are not from the evangelical community, the conservative community, if they're not familiar with that phrase, is the cultural projection onto women that if you are not a virgin until you are married, your worth is less. You are either messed up, you are immoral. There is something that is not fully godly about you could even Say on campus, purity culture is there. But the Liberty Way, like, weaponizes that it's a very, very heavy shame culture. And then on top of when you go and you say, I'm not a virgin anymore and I was assaulted, and someone says, well, were you drinking? What were you wearing? Where were you at? All of a sudden it's, you are the person who enabled your assault. And the Liberty Way is this. In my mind, it's like a litmus test for federal law. The cultural standard takes precedent over what the school's policies are supposed to be. And that is a really messed up way for young women who are learning all about the world. You don't all of a sudden leave campus and enter like, quote unquote, the real world and just think, all of a sudden things are going to be different. You take that standard of ethic with you.
- [04:31]
Narrator
But Chelsea isn't here just to speak about Liberty culture at large. Her story is much more personal. The summer before her senior year at Liberty, she was working as a campus tour guide. According to Chelsea, one night she went over to a male friend's apartment to watch a movie. Chelsea was of legal drinking age and she had one glass of wine while there. When the movie ended, her friend asleep, Chelsea quietly gathered herself to leave. She walked past the door of her friend's roommate, who was a Liberty Medical School student. It opened and he gestured for her to come over to him. Chelsea said no. So he came over to her and began forcefully kissing her. And then he pulled her into his room.
- [05:27]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
He swooped my pants off very quickly. I remember thinking, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. As long as my underwear are on, I'm okay. And the fact that I had underwear on didn't matter. And the fact that I said no didn't matter, and the fact that I, like, squeezed my legs together and I was crying and all of these things didn't matter.
- [05:52]
Narrator
As someone familiar with the Student Conduct office and the Liberty Way, Chelsea knew that in self reporting her rape, she risked accruing penalties for things unrelated to her attack, like the one glass of wine she drank or the fact that she was at a male friend's off campus apartment at night. As we shared in previous episodes, each violation is also associated with a fine and or points that add up and could be used against her.
- [06:23]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
I was a virgin before I was raped at Liberty, and I knew better than to tell the school. I knew the questions that would be asked. I knew that if I went into the Office of Student Conduct, it would not just be Hi. I need to tell someone that I was raped because there are elements of my story that the Liberty Way vilifies. There's part of the Liberty Way that a lot of people look at from the outside of the community where they've heard that there's monetary correlations. To me, the money was less. The fear it was that you accrue points, you accrue reprimands. And if you have so many points, or reps, we call them, you're not eligible to serve in leadership positions. So if I was scolded or I was told you put yourself in a certain situation or you did X, y or Z thing, then all of a sudden what I had worked hard for could be taken away from me. And I remember thinking, I can't, I can't. I can't tell anybody. I know what happens if I go to the hospital. The Lynchburg Police Department has a mutual aid agreement with lupd. If anyone finds out what happened, they are going to want to protect the medical school and they're going to take away my speaking at commencement, they're going to take away all the titles that I worked so hard to earn. And I am going to be painted as somebody who was drinking alcohol at a guy's house. So I deserved it and I didn't want that for myself. So I protected myself and I didn't tell.
- [08:10]
Narrator
We didn't plan on doing a bonus episode this season. We felt like we told the full story of the wide ranging dysfunction on Liberty's campus, starting at the top with Jerry Falwell Jr. But we didn't realize the impact that episode three would have with its personal stories of sexual violence and harassment on campus and Liberty's cover up culture that is systemic. But shortly after episode three dropped, Chelsea Andrews reached out to Zach Levitt, our showrunner for Gangster Capitalism.
- [08:49]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Listening to episode three to me was an epiphany of I am not alone anymore. I am not the only voice who is speaking out and I want to talk to them. And for every other journalist that I had fought away and who told me, people told me this happens on all the colleges everywhere. And I knew that there was something different that was going on. The other colleges don't have the Liberty away and it does not look how it looks for us. So when all of this happened and I heard episode three, I remember reaching out to Zach from Gangster Capitalism. And it's the only time that I myself have reached out to someone else and said, I want to talk to you. And it was empowering.
- [09:30]
Narrator
In addition to discussing her own story, Chelsea told Zach that she'd quietly collected almost 30 other stories of rape and sexual violence at Liberty. Zach had already been in discussions with Dr. Sandra Hodgin of the Title IX Consulting Group about the possibility of connecting the survivors from episode three with an attorney who might look at their cases. Here's Dr. Sandra Hodgen.
- [10:01]
Chelsea Andrews
In analyzing the three original cases that.
- [10:04]
Zach Levitt
Had come forward through this podcast, I began to see a trend regarding how Liberty University was handling things and how their policies and their honor code really dictated a different sense of priority there.
- [10:23]
Chelsea Andrews
There was a culture, there was a.
- [10:25]
Zach Levitt
Cultural problem, and that is what I was speaking to and then realized, yeah, there could be some sort of lawsuit or legal standing if additional cases were still happening at liberty.
- [10:42]
Narrator
Dr. Hodgin connected the survivors from episode three with an attorney, and Zach put Chelsea in touch with Dr. Hodgin, who would connect her and others she'd been speaking to with that attorney, who you'll hear from in this episode. As a result, Chelsea, the three women from episode three, another who told her story in episode five about being pressured by the school to marry her boyfriend after getting pregnant, and seven others have now become part of a lawsuit against Liberty University titled Jane does 1 through 12 versus Liberty University. And that number, as you'll hear, is likely to rise. Chelsea is Jane Doe 7, but she wanted to use her real name for this podcast. She's hoping that having been in a leadership position as a student during her entire time at Liberty will allow her to be an important voice for change.
- [11:45]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
I don't want to see my alma mater burned down in flames. I want to see Liberty become a place that protects students and is legally compliant. And I want it to be a place that says we'll do better. That does not make me an enemy of the school. That makes me an alumna who cares more about the school because I'm going in the line of fire with my name and my reputation to make sure that other people are more safe.
- [12:12]
Narrator
As for the Jane does, in the lawsuit, Liberty University kept none of them safe. And now more women have stepped forward to tell their explosive stories. I'm Andrew Jenks, and this is a bonus episode of gangster capitalism, season three. Jerry Falwell Jr. And Liberty University.
- [12:56]
Chelsea Andrews
When your child has come, you will.
- [13:00]
Narrator
Have to you pay.
- [13:02]
Zach Levitt
I save.
- [13:03]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Your.
- [13:15]
Zach Levitt
PayPal lets you pay all your pals like your graduation gifters.
- [13:19]
Chelsea Andrews
Who's paying for the mattress topper?
- [13:21]
Zach Levitt
You mean the bean bag chair?
- [13:23]
Chelsea Andrews
Aren't we getting a mini fridge?
- [13:25]
Jonathan Van Ness
Can we create a pool on paypal.
- [13:27]
Zach Levitt
It lets us collect the money before we buy. Oh yes, that's smart. Glad we can agree on easily. Pool Split and Send Money with PayPal get started in the PayPal app, a PayPal account is required to send and receive money. A balance account is required to create a pool.
- [13:44]
Narrator
Are you ever minding your own business? And start to wonder, is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch real? How do the Northern Lights happen?
- [13:51]
Chelsea Andrews
Why is weed not legal yet?
- [13:53]
Narrator
I'm Jonathan Van Ness and every week on Getting Curious, I sit down for a gorgeous conversation with a brilliant expert to learn all about something that makes me curious.
- [14:01]
Chelsea Andrews
Join me every Wednesday as we set.
- [14:03]
Narrator
Off on a stunning journey of curiosity on a new subject and dive into.
- [14:07]
Chelsea Andrews
The archive of more than 370 episodes.
- [14:10]
Narrator
Listen to Getting Curious wherever you get your podcasts.
- [14:19]
Jack Larkin
There's 12 plaintiffs right now, and because Liberty University is the defendant, Liberty University is frequent flyer in the media. There's a lot of attention on the case right now.
- [14:35]
Narrator
This is Jack Larkin from the law firm of Gothrop Greenwood in Pennsylvania. Larkin is the lead attorney representing the 12 Jane does in their lawsuit against Liberty University.
- [14:50]
Jack Larkin
The reality, though, is that Liberty University is not the only school in the country where Title IX violations occur and where sexual assault occurs on a daily basis. I will say that some of the stories that I have heard about Liberty University are absolutely hair raising and are new to me. I've been doing this for a while and some of them are new to me. One of the most important differences is that Liberty University very explicitly purports to hold itself to a higher standard. The reality that is being reported to me, and the reality that is alleged in the complaint is that rather than in fact holding itself to a higher standard, Liberty University has created mechanisms to specifically deter reporting.
- [15:35]
Narrator
In the complaint he filed on July 20 on behalf of the Jane Does, Larkin outlines Liberty's creation of an unsafe environment through several methods. One of them is described in the complaint as the weaponization of the Liberty Way.
- [15:55]
Jack Larkin
By and large, universities do not have policies that are similar to the Liberty Way, and as a result, they don't have that opportunity to hide the way Liberty University does. When I say the opportunity to hide, I mean the opportunity to deter reports. And you can do that either. Implicitly, there are some plaintiffs who allege that they would have made a report. Or rather I should say they allege that they did not make a report specifically because of their concerns about the Liberty Way. No one in particular told them, you're going to be punished, but they just threw the zeitgeist of the place and kind of picked up that they shouldn't do it. There are other plaintiffs who allege that they were very specifically told, do not make a report or else you will be punished. And then finally, there are some plaintiffs who allege, I actually was punished, I made a report, and something bad happened to me from Liberty University. And of course, the latter two instances are probably what feeds back into the first. It's what creates the zeitgeist, the place. So Liberty University creates a place to hide these reports by deterring them in the first instance under the Liberty Way. The next problem is that because they are deterring women from reporting their assaults, there is a far lower rate of reports. It's kind of a tautology there. If you deter women from reporting, then there are going to be far fewer reports. And it creates this perception that Liberty University is an incredibly safe campus. They, in their website, advertise themselves as being very safe. A lot of the women have described to me that they thought that it was very safe. A lot of the people that I've spoken to, both plaintiffs and witnesses, described to me a home life where they were encouraged to go to Liberty University or told they had to go to Liberty University if they were going to go anywhere, in part specifically because it was such a safe campus. And in reality, I don't know ultimately how safe it is compared to other campuses. But I can tell you that it's not as safe as Liberty University seems to suggest, and that's not fair. You've got to have an open environment where you're encouraging people to report, where there is no punishment for reporting, where there are true amnesties, and where there's not this tacit policy that we're going to threaten women or actually go ahead and punish women who make reports. I want to keep saying this because so many of the plaintiffs really strongly believe in the fundamentals of the evangelical tradition that Liberty University purports to represent in and of itself. I'm not sure that Liberty Way is problematic, because I do think that there's value to having a safe space for people who want to live their lives in that way. But the problem that you see is the way the Liberty Way is weaponized. So, for instance, you're not allowed to have consensual sexual activity. Well, what ends up happening is when women who have been victimized want to report what happened to them instead of being told, we recognize that this is kind of an exception to what happened, come in and tell us what happened, and we're going to advocate on your behalf. We're going to perform an investigation. We're going to make sure that whoever did this is punished within our ability to punish, reported to the police and expelled from campus instead. There is this prevailing fear among the women who I have spoken with anyway that they themselves are going to be penalized for violating Liberty Way. And that's why I call it the weaponization of the Liberty Way.
- [19:40]
Narrator
In addition to the weaponization of the Liberty Way, the complaint also highlights how some women have actually been punished for reporting, like Jane Doe number one.
- [19:54]
Zach Levitt
It took a long time to talk. I had to protect my family. I had to protect myself. And going back through this, it's a lot. But listening to the podcast all eight episodes, with tears in my eyes, I was like, you have to talk. You can't be silent anymore. You have to talk.
- [20:17]
Narrator
Jane Doe number one is not from the United States. In order to fully protect her anonymity, instead of simply disguising her voice, we're using an actress to repeat verbatim what Doe number one told us in a very emotional interview. This is the first time she's ever publicly told her story.
- [20:40]
Zach Levitt
I'm talking knowing that it's gonna hurt me, but at the end of the day, I'm doing that for every single soul that walks through Lu's doors and that doesn't have a voice. I know it's hard for me, and I'm not supposed to be able to talk about this. This is too heavy. But I asked the Lord for strength to do this, because I can't be silent anymore.
- [21:10]
Narrator
In 2013, DOE number one was an employee at Liberty under Keith Anderson, who was the dean of students at the time. You'll likely remember Keith Anderson's name from episode three, when another employee who he called Jennifer had accused him of repeatedly harassing her. Back in 2011, I feared being alone.
- [21:35]
Jonathan Van Ness
In the building with him or without someone else in the room with me.
- [21:41]
Narrator
Jennifer had first made a complaint to the human resources department. Then, when she heard nothing, she elevated her complaint directly to the head of that department, Laura Wallace. You'll also remember that Laura Wallace is Jerry Falwell Jr. S first cousin. After again receiving no response, Jennifer emailed Falwell Jr. Himself, as well as his brother Jonathan Falwell, who is now Liberty's campus pastor.
- [22:12]
Jonathan Van Ness
After much prayer and thought, I would like to speak with you about these incidents, may I please schedule an appointment with you?
- [22:19]
Narrator
Jennifer never received a single response from anybody relating to her harassment complaints. And still to this day, has heard nothing. As for Keith Anderson, as we reported, he was demoted in 2014, not because of Jennifer's harassment, though several sources told us that it was because he'd harassed a student. But after a promotion, he is Liberty's current executive director of student health and wellness. Back to Doe number one, I came.
- [22:59]
Zach Levitt
From another country to the US where in that country I was part of an all girl Catholic school. And then I came to the US And I went to another Christian college that was extremely strict compared to Liberty. So there's a lot that I don't know. I realize it. I know that I'm naive. In meetings, they'll be saying a word and I'll be like, what does that mean? And everybody will just start laughing. And Keith would answer like, oh, don't tell her what that means because she doesn't know bad words. So he took this thing and made it like public knowledge at work that I was naive and there's a lot that I don't know.
- [23:47]
Narrator
When Keith Anderson became a pastor at a church in Lynchburg, he asked Do Won to join his congregation, wanting to maintain a healthy boundary between her religion and her employer. She declined. But Dowon says Anderson was insistent and eventually she complied.
- [24:09]
Zach Levitt
So I started going to his church regularly and my sister and her kids moved to town and they also started going to his church. So we're going to his church and he gets to know some stories about me. And one of the stories was when I was a student in seminary, my dad was kidnapped back home in my country. And, you know, as a family and as a daughter, having your dad be kidnapped, I went through a lot and having to come up with the money to pay for the ransom. So he became aware of the things that had happened in my life.
- [24:53]
Narrator
On October 15th of 2013, Doe number one made a trip to Walmart in search of medication to treat an allergic reaction. While she was there, she got a call from Keith Anderson, who had a.
- [25:08]
Zach Levitt
Suggestion, and he mentioned a pill, Benadryl.
- [25:13]
Narrator
Doe number one, who says her body is sensitive to medication, asked her sister, a nurse, for advice.
- [25:21]
Zach Levitt
My sister was like, I don't think you should take Benadryl right now. Let's just go with something you can apply over your body before we go to a pill. And if it doesn't work tomorrow, you go to a doctor and he'll give you a medication and we'll go from there. So this is what I decided with my sister that I was going to do.
- [25:42]
Narrator
Later that night, Keith Anderson called her.
- [25:44]
Zach Levitt
Again and he said oh, did you get that pill? I told you. And I was like, oh, no, I decided not to take the pill right now. We'll go first with just the cream. And he hangs up. And I hang up. Like, towards three hours later, he calls again. And he was like, oh, you're not sleeping? And I was like, no, but I'm fine. And then again, a few hours later, I got a call from him, and he said he's on his way. And I'm like, on your way where? And he was like, oh, to come to your house. I'm bringing you medication. And I was like, I already told you that I wasn't going to take anything yet. I was just gonna go with the cream. And he was like, oh, I know you. You never take care of yourself the way you're supposed to. I'm still coming. And I was like, I don't understand why you're coming. It's really late. It was close to 2am So I kept telling him that I didn't need it and I'm okay. And we hung up. And a few minutes after, I hear a knock. It was him. I was like, what are you doing here? And then he passed by me and entered. And I was like, what are you doing here? He's like, oh, I brought you that medication. And I was like, but I told you I don't need it. He kept forcing me, forcing me. And at some point I was like, if I take the medication, would you leave? And he said, yes. And he opened his hand and there was one single pill in his hand. And I took it. And I was like, okay, there you go. I took the pill. Now can you go? And he went and sat on the couch. And I was like, what in the world are you doing? You said you were going to leave after the pill. And he was like, oh, no, I want to make sure you're okay. And I was like, why wouldn't I be? It's just an allergy. It's going to be fine. You can leave. He wouldn't leave. And at one point I went and sat down and I started feeling extremely sleepy. I sat down on the couch and I put my head on the couch. And I think I fell asleep. I don't know how long it took for me. I just. The next thing I remembered was his hand on my neck. And I felt like somebody was choking me. And I opened my eyes and I was like, what are you doing? And he said, no, nothing. I was like. I could hardly speak. So I asked him to leave. And he Was like, no, I want to make sure you're okay. And I was like, I will call for help. If you don't leave, I will call the police. And then he stood up and left. The next thing I know, it's the next day, and I'm still on the couch. And when I woke up on the couch, I was like, what in the world happened? I felt like I was drugged, but, I mean, I couldn't understand why. I went to my room, laid down, and went straight back to bed. And I found out that Benadryl is pink from my sister. It wasn't Benadryl. I think it was something else. I woke up a few hours later because there was a knock on my door. And I went and opened, and it was him. And I asked him, so why are you here? He goes, oh, I brought you food. And then I was about to turn around, and then he pushed the door in and walked in. He was asking me questions about last night. And I was like, about that. Why did you have your hand on my neck last night? And he said, oh, that's your imagination. This never happened.
- [30:03]
Narrator
It was at this point, do one says, that Keith Anderson began to pressure her to allow him to apply the topical cream to her body.
- [30:13]
Zach Levitt
So Keith wouldn't take no for an answer. Again, it's like, there's nothing I could say that would get him out or stop him from wanting to do what he wanted to do. So he got the cream, put it on my back, and I remember him touching my leg. And I moved away from the couch a little bit, and he just pulled me and kissed me. I pulled myself out, and I was like, what in the world? You're married. You're my boss. You're my pastor. Why would you do this? And he laughed. And I looked at him, and I was like, keith, you know who I am. I would never have an affair with a married man. And he said, I always get what I want. I was so lost in my brain. I couldn't understand or believe what was happening. And then the threat of not talking started right there in the apartment. And he told me that I'm his, that I better not talk to anybody about this. And he was like, oh, you know, I can get you deported. I just stood there, and I don't know what happened inside of me at that moment. I don't know if it was shock or anything. I just stood there. I didn't say anything, didn't move. And then he said, I'll see you later. And he left.
- [31:47]
Narrator
Though the physical Piece of her harassment was over. Doe 1 says Keith Anderson began harassing her mentally, both in and out of the workplace.
- [31:58]
Zach Levitt
The main thing about the deportation part, I was at LU on an H1B visa, which is a work visa that at the time needed to be renewed by lu, which is signed by him. And if they don't renew it, he knew that I would have to go home. At the same time, he knew that there was nothing for me to go back to. My whole family hasn't been back since that kidnapping. And the idea of going back home for me was a death sentence. And he. He knew that I felt like that. So he was bad. He said to everybody that if I ever tell them anything, to not believe me, because I'm going through some mental stuff in the office. Everybody was hearing that I had some mental breakdown or mental disorder. People came to me and asked, are you okay? Because I don't understand why Dean Anderson was saying this about you. Are you okay? I would say yes. And then he would call me into his office and ask me what I was talking to them about. Did they ask questions? Did I answer? And he's like, don't forget, I can finish you. And it became an everyday thing. I was so scared. I was going to work, and I was scared. And like I said, I was on an H1B visa. I couldn't just pick up and leave my job. So I had to make the decision to just live by what he said, keep my mouth closed to the best I could at work and keep going. And somehow, little by little, I felt like I was dying inside. I was somebody that was always laughing and having a good time. And in one day, he took that away from me. I was stuck inside my office most of the time. I was scared to even go out. I didn't exist. It was torture. And many nights, I wanted to kill myself.
- [34:02]
Narrator
According to the lawsuit, Doe 1 told two co workers about her assault and harassment, and they convinced her to make a formal complaint to human resources sources. When she initially went to HR, Doe 1 was told that Anderson would not be informed of her complaint.
- [34:22]
Zach Levitt
But somehow, some way. I don't know if it came from hr, but Keith found out that I had talked. He. He. He called me in his office, and he said, by closing your mouth, you could have had anything you wanted, but you had to talk. This is war. You always have to open your mouth. I told you that I would finish you, and I always keep my word. I stood there and I was like, what is this supposed to mean?
- [34:52]
Narrator
Doe once Says the harassment continued relentlessly. Co workers began texting her to tell her when Anderson was nearby outside of work. She says he started showing up at places where she was. And one day when she came home, there was a box on her front door and inside was a dead cat. She says she can't be sure if Keith Anderson had anything to do with it, but she was so shaken by this point that she moved and even traded in her brand new car for a different make.
- [35:28]
Zach Levitt
I was constantly, every day, feeling. I can't explain it to anybody, how it feels when your life is passing in front of you and you have no say in it. A few months after, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. And if you know what fibromyalgia is, it's where your whole body is in a state of shock and stays there for your whole life. It's a pain I can't explain. Only thing that's close to that pain is, you know, when you burn your hand in something, it's feeling like that every single day, every single hour of my life for the rest of my life. A doctor had explained it to me before. He was trying to understand what was going on in my life. That put me to a point that I have fibromyalgia. And I told him a few of the things he said, your body went and stayed in the fight and flight mode for too long. And I still have that pain for the rest of my life every single day. It's a reminder of how Lu failed to protect me.
- [36:35]
Narrator
Doe Won was also diagnosed with ptsd. As for the HR investigation, if you've been listening along this season, you can probably guess how that turned out. According to the lawsuit, she was told in one of her meetings with HR that Anderson was credible because he is a, quote, man of God. And do Won was told she was not credible because she was attempting to, quote, smear a man of God.
- [37:07]
Zach Levitt
She said, do you believe that as a man of God that he would do something like that? He's been working with Lynchburg City school and with the Lynchburg area for over 37 years. He's given all of himself to the community. And she said, so you see, you're just trying to smear his name. And I remember telling them, no, I'm trying to tell you what happened to me, and I'm asking for help. And she continued telling me over and over that nobody ever reported anything about Keith before. And I was like, ma'am, that's not true.
- [37:46]
Narrator
We know this isn't true. Remember, just Two years prior, Jennifer had reported Anderson as well, and nothing was done then.
- [37:58]
Zach Levitt
And she continued by telling me how great Keith is. And in the middle of it, I stopped. I stopped talking. I was like, nothing is gonna change. So she gave me a letter that said that they're concluding their investigation, that they couldn't find any evidence that he actually did anything to me. They couldn't find any evidence of these threats, which I don't understand. He threatened me that he would take me out of my leadership position. He did that. So I couldn't understand when they said there was no evidence of his threats. One of the things I think is important to know too is when he was threatening me non stop, one of the things he said is that if I went to hr, they would not believe me. He said that. And he did say that he has Jerry in his pocket. Jerry will never let him go. He has a really good relationship with Jerry. Jerry let him use his RV to go on vacation. And I also know that Jerry sent LU workers to his house to redo his kitchen for him.
- [39:08]
Narrator
The timing of all of this is crucial here. The investigation and many of Anderson's threats were going on in the spring of 2014 at the same time Anderson was running for Lynchburg City Council. Let that sink in for a second. City councilman is a position of influence not just with the city of Lynchburg, but with power over Liberty's ability to grow its campus, something Jerry Falwell Jr. Was obsessed with. It's not hard to imagine how news of sexual harassment by a Liberty dean running for City Council would be received. According to the lawsuit, the HR investigation concluded in May of 2014, the same month as the City Council election. Anderson finished dead last out of the six candidates. But knowing what we know about Falwell Jr. Is it implausible that he knew about the complaint against Anderson and maybe had a hand in making it go away? Of course he knew about Jennifer's complaint three years prior and did nothing. As for Doe number one, she was fired a few months later.
- [40:43]
Zach Levitt
I do believe that Jerry had something to do with them firing me. There was no reason for them to fire me at all. I had a great track record with my students. I have the knowledge, I have the background. I worked everywhere in the office. So there's no reason to fire somebody that's such an asset. The only reason for me to get fired is because Jerry needed me to go.
- [41:09]
Narrator
But Do Won's firing didn't end her ordeal.
- [41:15]
Zach Levitt
Eight years. When you look at events in people's Lives. And you're like, time heals. It didn't heal anything for me. I still have fibromyalgia. There are some days I can't even walk. I can't go for a year without being in the emergency room out of pain that I can't handle, so they can administer strong medication for the pain so that I can survive. So when people look at this one event, just the date, October 15, 2013, that day that Keith did what he did, and they're like, oh, it's not that bad. It's not that bad what happened to you? And I agree. Some other people had it worse. Some of the Jane does, they were raped, they had it worse. For me, the pain, the torture I went through after that one singular event was worse than anything else. Keith didn't suffer one minute for what he did. Not one. Keith needs to go. And I don't say that Keith needs to go in just a revenge kind of way. No, I've seen Keith in action. He is a great manipulator. He's a serial predator. And those students that we put under him, those employees that we put under him, we're letting them be attacked. So I'm sitting here and I'm talking about this, and I'm talking about my story. It's really hard, but I had to do it because I don't want anyone else to suffer what I suffered. I still have nightmares. I have more now than I used to have a few years ago because I'm going through this. One of my nightmares that comes over and over is me running and Keith running after me. And I would wake up literally feeling his hand under my neck. But he doesn't get to dictate. He doesn't get to continue to threaten my voice. So that's why I'm talking today.
- [43:28]
Narrator
Here's Jennifer from episode three. She is now Jane Doe 8.
- [43:36]
Jonathan Van Ness
When I was reading the stories of the other women and I matched myself to Jane Doe 1 and I looked at timelines, and had they responded to me a year prior, Jane Doe one never would have been attacked by Keith Anderson. My heart broke for her. And yet I was filled with anger because Liberty could have prevented this by removing him. And as I understand it, there's others that have been hurt by him. And it just is so heartbreaking that they didn't listen and they didn't take my concerns seriously. I think the thing that. And all the incidents and trauma that all of these women, including myself, faced was the first hit, but the lack of acknowledgment and validation is almost worse. And so I think that's what's sort of propelling all of us into finally standing up. Having gangster capitalism connect us with a Title IX person and attorneys was very validating because they were highly, highly concerned at the different violations and mishandlings and negligence. While it's really sad that there's so many of us, I think that is what is bringing strength. I've had 10 years of carrying this and the fault's on them because now I'm stronger than I was then. For all of us, we want to see these people removed and changes come to safety on the campus. I was scared of Keith Anderson 10, 12 years ago and that's why I left. But I'm not scared anymore. And I think that a lot of the women are. As we band together, we're not scared anymore. And Liberty's negligence has actually given us time to build up strength that we're not going to back down until they bring change and safety to this campus.
- [45:27]
Narrator
Once again, for this episode, we reached out to Keith Anderson for comment, but have received no response. We also reached back out to Liberty for comment. Again, no response.
- [45:53]
Chelsea Andrews
I AM DOE number 12. When I was 15 years old in the summer of 2000, my best friend and my partner on my policy debate team at my high school decided that she was going to go off to debate camp. And she chose to attend a secular debate camp in Washington D.C. and so I begged my mom to let me go with her. And so my mom said she didn't think that D.C. was a very safe place for her 15 year old daughter. She said, you know, I was very young and very pretty and very naive and something might happen to me. So she said that I could go to debate camp, but she wanted me to be in a safe and a Christian environment. And what she had read online about Liberty University and the safety measures that they had there and their crime statistics was that it was a very safe place. So she decided I could go to debate camp, but she wanted me to go to Liberty. She said it's either Liberty or nothing at all. So I went for the first four or five days. I had a really great time, didn't have a problem with any of the rules, you know, no short shorts, no drinking, no drugs, modest clothes only. I was having the time of my life.
- [47:16]
Narrator
On the Friday of the first week at debate camp, there was going to be a mock debate tournament. Doe number 12 realized that she'd left some of her notes in the dorm room. She was staying in which, of course, was an all girls dorm. She couldn't find anybody to walk across campus with her. But she was told, both in the promotional materials for the camp as well as by other campers that a dorm mother is in the dorm room 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So she walked across campus to get her notes.
- [47:52]
Chelsea Andrews
So I go up into the dorm, I get to the second floor, and I sort of hear the door at the bottom of the stairs slam. And so there's a part of you that kind of knows that something bad is about to happen. I had chills all over my body, and the guy hadn't even made it up the stairs yet. But he comes up the stairs and I meet him. We sort of have this very brief conversation. He says he's looking for another girl. And I say, well, I don't recognize her name, you know, I don't think that she's agreed to meet you here, because none of us are really supposed to be back, you know, and I think you should leave. I believe that I did advise him at that point that it wasn't all women's dorm, it was a female dorm. And so he refuses to leave. And the next thing I know, because it happened so fast, I'm like staring at like the perforated ceiling of the dorm. And I am being carried sort of in the manner that a bride would be carried over the threshold. I just started screaming like, what are you doing? Put me down. And so he carries me into the bathroom. And he goes all the way into the back of the bathroom, like where the wall is. And when we hit the wall, he takes right into the shower stall and he sets me down on my feet. And I think at that point he was distracted a little bit because I think he was about to unzip his pants. I just took off and ran for it and I go flying down the hallway. But he was really fast. So he grabs me by my waist, and the next thing I know, I am airborne. And my back sort of hits like this very cushioned, like an old school wood chair. And this guy is like launching himself on top of me, like his whole body weight. And so he's trying to kiss me and he's grabbing my breasts and he's trying to figure out how to take my pants off. And I am screaming for the doormother the whole time. Later I would find out she wasn't even in the building. And so he reaches for both hands to go around my throat. And I just like, by instinct, I just opened My mouth. And I. I think I bit his fingers. And then he pulled his fingers back. So then I bit his arm. When he tried again, eventually I think I hurt him enough. I think he decides I'm too much trouble to be dealing with. So he sort of pulls himself off of my body. He took off flying down the stairs. And he was saying things like, I'm really sorry. And then he says, and please don't call the police. I thought, oh, God, now I have to. It made me think it wasn't just me. If this is a man who has a pattern, he will probably do it again. And I just thought, you know, if I don't do anything, if I don't report, then I feel like, as a Christian, I am ethically responsible for what this man does in the future. So the police show up and I say, can I please have my friend with me? Because I was sort of afraid to be alone in the company of any man, no matter how nice the man was. I didn't want to be alone with the man. But he said, no, I'm the chief of the Liberty Police. I'm going to take good care of you.
- [51:31]
Narrator
According to the lawsuit, the Liberty Police chief then required her to ride to the station in the same police car as her attacker. When they arrived, she was put in a room and asked to write out a statement. When she finished her long and detailed statement, they asked her to write it out again.
- [51:52]
Chelsea Andrews
So I said, no problem. I figured this is a test to see whether I was making everything up, but I knew I wasn't making it up, so I wasn't nervous and I just wrote it out again. And then when they had both copies of my statement in their possession, they came back to me and they said, well, you screwed up some detail about your attacker's wristwatch. And I said, well, you know, if I messed up a detail, you know, I'm sorry, but it just means that I'm traumatized. It doesn't mean that I'm lying. They had me locked up in this room. Like they would lock it when they weren't in there interrogating me, which just felt very disorienting and like it was intended to make me feel like I was the one who was in trouble rather than my attacker.
- [52:38]
Narrator
It's important to remember that when Doe 12 was sitting in the police station, she was a minor, 15 years old. She called home, but her mother wasn't there, so she left a message.
- [52:52]
Chelsea Andrews
When she. She did call back, they didn't let me speak with her immediately. The chief of police took some time to speak with my mother. And what my mom says is that the chief of police told her that what had happened to me that day was no big deal. It was two teenagers and a scree. It's not a big deal, and you don't need to come to the station. So by the time my mother speaks with me, she's already sort of heard this version of events from the chief of police. And I got off the phone with my mom, and I explained to the chief of police that I was going to call my youth pastor at his church office. And the chief of police was like, no, you're not going to do that. You only get one phone call. And I said, well, why do I only get one phone call? Like, I'm not in trouble. They wouldn't let me call my youth pastor at that point. That just, like, freaked me out even more because I didn't understand why I was not allowed to have a female friend my own age with me at the station for emotional support. And I didn't understand why it seemed like the police were systemically denying me access to my mother or access to anyone who would sort of be a shoulder to cry on for me.
- [54:09]
Narrator
At this point. Doe number 12 became aware that her attacker was being treated very differently than her.
- [54:18]
Chelsea Andrews
They bought him Pepsi out of the Pepsi vending machine in the police station. And when I asked if I could have a Pepsi also, he said no. And at that point, I realized that they were treating my attacker preferentially. I think when my attacker was picking out his soda from the soda machine, you know, deciding what he wanted, there was this comment made, wow, like, I really want an autograph from this guy, because the autograph is going to be worth a lot of money someday.
- [54:53]
Narrator
Doe 12's attacker was a Liberty University football player, which she says influenced the way that the L.U.P.D. officers treated him and the way they treated her.
- [55:07]
Chelsea Andrews
My attacker's first story to the police, actually, that the chief told me, was that we had never met. We had never had any contact whatsoever. And so I said to the chief, well, that's not true. There's a camera over the door of the dorm. The camera footage should show him entering the door. And at that point, he's in trouble, and at that point, he's in violation of the Liberty Way. He had no right to be in the building under your own school rules. So they go back, they talk to my attacker, they come back to me, and they say, okay, well, he's changed his story now. His Story is that you two did have sexual contact, but it was consensual. And I said, well, that's not right, because we had this fight. And during the fight, while he's trying to kiss me and he's groping my breasts, I'm scratching his face with my fingernails. So I said, you know, there wouldn't be his DNA under my fingernails, all these skin cells if it had been consensual. And the chief said to me, oh, well, you probably have his DNA under your fingernails, because you would have scratched his back. Ha ha ha ha ha. And I was so sheltered. I was so naive. I'm just from a little small town in the south. I was raised to be a good Christian girl. I didn't catch intellectually that sometimes people who are having sex will sort of scratch each other's backs. So I didn't understand why it was funny to the chief of police that I would have my attacker's DNA under my nails.
- [56:38]
Narrator
Attendees of the debate camp had been asked to sign a version of the Liberty way. And so LUPD's chief then allegedly turned his focus to whether or not Doe 12 was in violation of it.
- [56:53]
Chelsea Andrews
One of the questions the chief of police had for me was whether I had been drunk during the time of the attack. And I said, no, I'm 15 years old. I have never had a glass of alcohol. And I said, furthermore, I have been at debate camp all week long. You guys have been in control of everything I've had to eat. You guys have been in control of everything I've had to drink. I'm happy to be evaluated for that. But I said, you know, I haven't been drinking. And then they said, well, we know you're a rule breaker and a troublemaker. You are wearing pants, young lady, and you're not allowed to wear pants in an academic building. You are dishonoring God by not wearing a dress or a skirt. And I said, well, I understand that you all have certain rules for your college students, But I was only asked to sign a limited version of the Liberty way to come to debate camp. And the limited version made it perfectly clear that pants were considered acceptable attire for the high school girls at this point.
- [57:55]
Narrator
According to the lawsuit, Doe 12 says the chief pressured her to drop the charges.
- [58:03]
Chelsea Andrews
The chief of police said that he had a spiritual power of discernment, that he could tell that I was lying and that I was wasting their time and that they were going to file against me. They were going to file criminal charges of having filed a quote unquote false police report with them if I refused to drop my claims against my attacker. And I was so angry by that point, because my whole purpose in reporting to the police was altruistic. My whole purpose was concern for the safety of the other women and the other girls on campus. And so I said, well, this is true what has happened to me, and I'm obligated as a Christian to defend the truth. You know, if you want to, you can go ahead and file criminal charges against me, But I would like the benefit of a free attorney, because once you're a criminal defendant, you're entitled to a free attorney. And the chief of police just sort of looked like I had punched him in the face. He knew that I knew that I was calling his bluff, and he was not very happy with me about it. And when I refused to drop the charges, they began to view me as this very recalcitrant individual. And I think their goal at that point was to break me psychologically. And so one of the things they said to me was that if I was serious about pursuing charges and if I had really been attacked in a sexual manner, they were going to need naked photographs of me. And I said, if they wanted those, I wanted to go to Lynchburg General Hospital. I wanted a forensic kit. I wanted samples to be taken from under my fingernails, because if we couldn't get a conviction based on what had happened that day, if they felt like there wasn't enough evidence, I wanted my DNA evidence preserved because I felt that this man would strike again eventually. And they said, no, you're going to take your clothes off for us right now. The chief of police originally wanted to take the photographs himself. And I said, no, my mother would kill me if I voluntarily disrobed. For a man, I'm a modest Christian teenage girl. I'm not going to take my clothes off for a man. And they said, okay, we'll have a woman take the pictures.
- [60:34]
Narrator
Despite not having her clothes removed during her attack, According to legal documents, Doe 12 says that a female debate coach was then called in to take naked photos of her leaning over a desk with her legs spread. Her mother was never contacted by Liberty Police regarding the photographs, nor gave consent to have them taken.
- [61:02]
Zach Levitt
And when I saw that picture, I'm like, oh, my God, there's more. Like, I have a feeling that this is going on with other people.
- [61:10]
Narrator
Later, after hearing Giancarlo Granda, the pool boy, say in the news in 2020 that Jerry Falwell Jr. Shared a naked photo of a female student with him, Doe 12 feared the worst.
- [61:26]
Chelsea Andrews
It is possible that Jerry Falwell Jr. Has seen naked pictures of me underage. It is equally terrible to me that I, as a 15 year old still exist probably on a computer somewhere. And when Gian the pool boy came from forward with his account of what had happened in 2020, I began to be very concerned that the police had never actually taken my nude photos for any legitimate purpose. And I began to be concerned that Jerry Falwell, as a collector of inappropriate images, had maybe decided to collect me. And it bothers me very much that Jerry Falwell Jr. Is friends with Donald Trump. And it bothers me very much that Donald Trump was friends with Jeffrey Epstein. And so I sort of have this open question in my mind as to what extent I have been victimized. And I am very worried that my images may have been trafficked globally. Maybe they are being traffic as I speak. So in addition to all of the other issues that we have present with the lawsuit, the trafficking of underage sexual abuse images is something that I think Liberty University has to grapple with.
- [62:58]
Narrator
Jane Doe 12 was held for eight hours at the Liberty University police station. She was given nothing to eat or drink during that time. Finally, according to the lawsuit, before being permitted to leave, the police told her to wash her hands in order to destroy any DNA evidence and then present her nails for inspection. She specifically asked the chief of police to contact her if her attacker ever committed another assault. She was never contacted. Then, more than a decade later, well.
- [63:39]
Zach Levitt
The biggest surprise is that we don't have a capital murder charge.
- [63:43]
Chelsea Andrews
I see on the news that, boom, that's my guy.
- [63:47]
Zach Levitt
We do have a first degree murder charge against Jesse Matthew. We also have abduction with intent to defile. He had been charged with that in charge.
- [63:56]
Narrator
His name was Jesse Matthew. Matthew, as mentioned in episode three, was a former Liberty University football player who after attacking Doe 12 in 2000, was later convicted of the abduction and murder of a Virginia Tech student named Morgan Harrington in 2009, as well as the abduction and murder of of University Virginia student Hannah Graham in 2014. DNA evidence obtained in a separate 2005 Fairfax, Virginia sexual attack and attempted murder was used to connect all of the crimes to Matthew, who is currently serving four consecutive life sentences.
- [64:47]
Chelsea Andrews
It hurts so much because when I went to the police, the goal was to prevent that kind of stuff from happening. But it's worse than that because I know how much DNA I got off of my attacker. And so I know for a fact that if they had only collected the DNA evidence that there would have been a match with the Fairfax 2005 victim and my attacker's story would have been over at that point because we would have had enough evidence to get a life conviction on him. The Liberty Police would have been able to divulge his name and his home address and we would have tracked him down in 2005. If the Liberty University police had believed me, if they had documented my claim and taken me seriously. It's not even a question of a conviction. If they had taken me seriously, Morgan Harrington and Hannah Graham would definitely be alive today. Of that I am completely sure. I believe that the sort of indignity and the sort of embarrassment that I was deliberately subjected to as a minor child that day is incredibly important. It's important for the Liberty community to understand the sort of evil and the sort of wickedness that exists at their university so that people can repent and so that people can change and become better people. And it's also important because I don't want any 15 year old girl or anybody ever to feel stigmatized because they were a victim of a horrific violent crime. But because they throw, they chose to throw me away like yesterday's garbage. That's when people end up getting raped and murdered and found in a ditch somewhere.
- [66:48]
Narrator
The Liberty police chief at the time was a man named Don Sloan. Sloan is now the sheriff of Lynchburg and he denied Doe number 12's allegations to ABC News in Lynchburg.
- [67:05]
Chelsea Andrews
I've looked at what was said as.
- [67:07]
Jack Larkin
Far as that and I can unequivocally.
- [67:08]
Chelsea Andrews
Say that the statement that is being.
- [67:11]
Narrator
Made there is not true. As for Liberty University, after not responding to any of our reporting all season, they did respond to the lawsuit in a statement saying the allegations in The Jane Doe 1 through 12 versus Liberty University lawsuit are deeply troubling. If they turn out to be true. It went on to say, quote, we will immediately look into each of these claims to determine what needs to be done to make things right. If they turn out to be true. Because the claims are made anonymously and go back many years, in one case over two decades, it will take some time to sort through. That was their public statement, but multiple sources tell us that in a private address to Liberty's faculty president Jerry Prevo blamed the media and the devil for Liberty's bad pr. This would seem to indicate their true desire to continue to sweep things under the rug. Here is Kathy from episode three. She'd been gang raped on campus and Jerry Falwell Jr refused the pleas of Kathy and her roommate for better safety measures on campus. Kathy is now Jane Doe number two.
- [68:45]
Chelsea Andrews
My hope with the podcast leading up to it was that others would come forward with their stories and share, and they did. And it has blown me away. And it surprised me, the gravity that I felt in hearing other people's stories. It almost feels like a punch in the gut every time another story is shared. And it's hard to hear, but. But I'm so thankful that other women feel like they can come forward now because of the podcast and because of all of the legal action that's happening. It feels like we opened the door and the floodgates are just pouring through right now.
- [69:26]
Narrator
And now Liz from episode three, whose Liberty Title IX investigation excluded incriminating photos of bruises and hickeys left by her attacker. Liz is Now Jane Doe 3.
- [69:43]
Chelsea Andrews
I'm Liz. I'm not Jane Doe. I'm someone that went through this and survived, but had to be in pain and be alone and struggle for way longer than I should have had to. The day that the story broke that there was a lawsuit, I just cried. I was just immediately very overwhelmed with.
- [70:14]
Zach Levitt
Relief that it was happening, pain because.
- [70:18]
Chelsea Andrews
It was such a long time coming. I had waited so long. I'd waited almost four years for someone to listen. And I just didn't think that that was going to happen. And I don't think I could have ever expected that this would happen, you know, four years later. And it's really validating and it feels really powerful and I think it's the beginning of a lot of change.
- [70:44]
Narrator
What began with the stories of Kathy, Jennifer and Liz in episode three is now Jane Doe 1 through 12 and growing. Here again for the last word is Jack Larkin, the attorney for the Jane Does.
- [71:05]
Jack Larkin
The gangster capitalism podcast preceded the lawsuit. I suspect that but for the investigation that you were doing, we would not be here today. It's obviously very much my hope that these women get everything that they're entitled to under the law, including significant non monetary changes at Liberty University that will then end up being good for absolutely everybody. And I hope that that continues on across the rest of the country. But for this podcast, I'm not sure that that would have happened. And we, whether or not they end up winning in court, I think that they have an excellent chance. I hope that they will. But the conversation that is being prompted is a valuable one and it's being carried out in places other than the courts, and I think that that's phenomenal.
- [72:07]
Narrator
Thanks so much to those of you who've reached out to us with tips this season@tipsangstercapitalism.com the response has been overwhelming and a very special thank you to the nearly 100 courageous people who've spoken to us both on the record and off. Finally, if you like the show, please be sure to rate and review it. Thank you for listening to Season three of Gangster Capitalism. This has been a creation and presentation of C13 originals, a Cadence 13 studio executive produced by Chris Corcoran, Zach Levitt and myself Written, produced and directed by Zach Levitt Produced by Perry Kroll and myself Research and production support by Ian Mont Editing by Perry Kroll and Bill Schultz Mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz Production coordination by Terence Malangone Studio coordination by Sean Cherry Artwork and design by Kurt Courtney marketing by Brian Swarth, Josephina Francis and Melissa Wester and PR by Hilary Shuff Original music by Joel Goodman and our theme song, your sins will find you'd out is by Eli Paperboy Reed.
- [73:26]
Zach Levitt
There ain't no doubt all your sins are going to find you out.
- [73:37]
Jonathan Van Ness
You better hear me when I tell you now.
- [73:51]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
I'm Joyn Robinson, host of the new.
- [73:54]
Chelsea Andrews
Podcast the Women's Hoop Show. Each episode episode I'll be joined by.
- [73:58]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
A rotating group of women's basketball experts to talk wnba, college hoops, the new unrivaled league, and the shifting landscape of the sport. The game is growing and so are we.
- [74:09]
Chelsea Andrews
Listen to and follow the Women's Hoop.
- [74:11]
Dr. Sandra Hodgin
Show and Odyssey Podcast, available now for free on the Odyssey app or wherever.
- [74:15]
Zach Levitt
You get your podcasts.