Chelsea Andrews’ Liberty Lawsuit: Jane Doe #7, Freeze, and Auburn

Chelsea Andrews is a rape survivor and former Liberty University student whose lawsuit against the school, filed in July 2021 under the pseudonym “Jane Doe #7,” became one of the defining pieces of litigation over how the evangelical Christian university handled reports of sexual violence. The Chelsea Andrews Liberty University lawsuit was part of a twelve-plaintiff federal case that Liberty settled in May 2022 on confidential terms, alongside a package of announced campus safety reforms. Andrews went public with her name in late 2021 and has since kept pressure on Liberty and on institutions connected to it, including Auburn University after it hired former Liberty football coach Hugh Freeze.

Why She Didn’t Report the Assault

Andrews has said she was raped by a medical student at an off-campus house after having a glass of wine while she was enrolled at Liberty. She did not report the assault to the university, and she has been direct about why: Liberty’s student conduct code, known as “The Liberty Way,” prohibited alcohol, premarital sex, and being alone in an enclosed space with someone of the opposite sex, and students who reported sexual assault were routinely required to sign documents acknowledging they could be disciplined for any code violations tied to the incident.¹

“I thought, ‘I’m going to get in trouble.’ If I reported it, I was going to get punished,” Andrews said. She has described the code as making the sanction for drinking functionally comparable to the sanction for being raped, which she said forced survivors to choose between accountability and their standing at the school.²

The Federal Lawsuit

In July 2021, Andrews and eleven other women, identified as Jane Does 1 through 12, sued Liberty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The case, No. 2:21-cv-03964-JMA-ARL, was brought by the firm Gawthrop Greenwood and asserted seven counts, including pre-assault deliberate indifference, post-assault deliberate indifference, hostile environment, retaliation, and negligence.³⁴

The complaint alleged that Liberty’s honor code made reporting sexual violence “difficult or impossible,” that the university weighted investigations in favor of accused male students, and that it retaliated against women who came forward. The plaintiffs sought monetary damages along with institutional reforms, including better training for staff who work with victims.⁵

More women joined as the case progressed. A February 2022 status report indicated that if the case did not resolve, an amended complaint would add new plaintiffs, including a then-current student. The total grew to more than twenty.⁶

The Settlement and Announced Reforms

In May 2022, Liberty settled with all twelve original Jane Doe plaintiffs and all but two of the additional plaintiffs. Attorney Jack Larkin dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice. Financial terms were confidential.⁷

Alongside the settlement, Liberty announced more than $8.5 million in security upgrades, including cameras, blue-light call boxes, and an emergency reporting app. The university also revised its amnesty policy to clarify that students would not be disciplined for honor code violations when reporting sexual harassment or assault, and it said it would review counseling services to increase access to licensed mental health providers.⁶

Going Public as Jane Doe #7

Andrews revealed her identity on camera for the first time in a November 2021 interview with Inside Edition’s Lisa Guerrero. She said “The Liberty Way” had been “weaponized against women on campus” and described the fear that kept her and others silent. She also disclosed that she had been quietly connecting other survivors through social media, collecting roughly thirty additional accounts of sexual violence at Liberty beyond those represented in the lawsuit.²⁸

“For many years, they’ve been sweeping things under the rug,” Andrews said. “And now, we’re lifting that rug up and seeing how much dirt and disgusting is underneath it.”⁹

Hugh Freeze’s Direct Messages

In July 2022, Andrews disclosed that Hugh Freeze, then Liberty’s head football coach, had sent her multiple unsolicited direct messages on Twitter over a period of months. In one, Freeze defended Liberty athletic director Ian McCaw: “You don’t even know Ian McCaw. He is the most Jesus like leader I have ever seen or been around but you take every chance you can to take a shot at him. I don’t understand that mentality.” In a second, sent in January 2022, Freeze asked Andrews to help him “understand your attacks on me and our program,” offering to talk by phone or in person.¹⁰¹¹

Andrews posted about the messages publicly. “Why is the head football coach at Liberty University DMing me during and after my lawsuit with LU?” she wrote. “At almost midnight. When I didn’t tag him.” She said she was naming Freeze publicly because she did not want direct contact with him. Inside Higher Ed verified the messages.¹⁰

The context mattered. Before joining Liberty in November 2016, McCaw had resigned as Baylor University’s athletic director after a Pepper Hamilton investigation identified failures within the football program and athletics leadership, including a failure to respond to reports of sexual violence. Baylor officials said McCaw was told in 2013 that a female student-athlete had reported being gang-raped by five football players; he first denied knowing about the allegation, then said he had been told but that the victim did not wish to report it.¹²

Warning Auburn Before It Hired Freeze

In November 2022, Auburn hired Freeze as its head football coach on a six-year deal averaging $6.5 million per year. Andrews emailed Auburn officials, including university president Chris Roberts, urging them to weigh that Liberty remained under a federal investigation for sexual assault coverups. She said she was writing out of concern for “the alumni community at Auburn, the current students who will engage with the football program, and the ethos of Auburn.”¹³

Auburn never responded. Andrews confirmed that no one from the university contacted her. Auburn athletic director John Cohen described the coaching search as “thoughtful, thorough and well-vetted,” saying it involved conversations with “industry experts, teachers, professional and college coaches, law enforcement officials, student athletes, parents of student athletes and many others.” He acknowledged “pushback” but added, “I don’t get to control everyone’s feelings.”¹⁴¹¹

What Has Happened at Liberty Since

The federal investigation Andrews cited to Auburn produced a landmark result. On March 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education announced a $14 million fine against Liberty for Clery Act violations covering 2016 through 2023, the largest fine ever imposed under the law and more than double the previous record. Investigators found that Liberty had “fundamentally failed” to support victims of violence, created a “culture of silence,” punished sexual assault victims for conduct code violations while leaving assailants unpunished, and used “The Liberty Way” to threaten students who came forward.¹⁵¹⁶

The settlement required Liberty to pay the $14 million fine, spend an additional $2 million on safety and compliance, submit to two years of federal oversight through April 2026, and engage an external Clery Compliance Monitor to file biannual reports with the Department.¹⁷ Liberty has reported investing more than $10 million in infrastructure, surveillance, and security, training more than 20,000 individuals in Title IX and Clery Act compliance, and establishing an Office of University Compliance.¹⁸

Litigation against Liberty has continued past Andrews’s settlement. In August 2025, Erika Woolfolk, a former civil rights investigator in Liberty’s Office of Equity and Compliance, sued the university in the Western District of Virginia, alleging wrongful termination, racial discrimination, and retaliation for cooperating with Department of Education investigators in 2022. Woolfolk alleged she reported “systematic efforts to minimize and downplay sexual assault reports” and “predetermined case outcomes,” and said she was fired in June 2024, days after filing an internal complaint against administrator Ashley Reich. Liberty denied the allegations, citing “legitimate business reasons,” and a jury trial is set for December 2026.¹⁹²⁰ As of early 2025, Liberty also had multiple open Title IX investigations before the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the earliest opened in June 2015 and the most recent in November 2024.²¹

1
ProPublica. The Liberty Way: How Liberty University Discourages and Dismisses Students’ Reports of Sexual Assaults
2
Inside Edition. Jane Does Speak to Inside Edition Accusing Liberty University of Mishandling Sexual Assault Claims
3
Inside Higher Ed. Jane Does 1-12 v. Liberty University Complaint
4
WSLS. Lawsuit Filed Against Liberty University by 12 Jane Does Settled
5
NPR. Liberty University Students File Suit Claiming School Culture Fostered Sexual Violence
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Baptist Press. Women Settle Suit Alleging Liberty Mishandled Assault Cases
7
Campus Safety Magazine. Liberty University Settles Lawsuit With Students Alleging Mishandled Rape Cases
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Paramount Press Express. Inside Edition Exclusive: Jane Does Speak Out About Liberty University Lawsuit
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Roy’s Report. Jane Does: Liberty Sex Assault Assailants Prayed For, Let Go
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Inside Higher Ed. Liberty Coach Takes Aim at Sex Assault Survivor on Twitter
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AL.com. Chelsea Andrews: Auburn Never Asked About Hugh Freeze Messages Defending Liberty’s Ian McCaw
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Chicago Tribune. Liberty University Hires Baylor AD Who Resigned Amid Sexual Assault Scandal
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WVTM. Former Liberty University Student Disagrees With Hugh Freeze Hire at Auburn
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Montgomery Advertiser. Auburn Football: Hugh Freeze, John Cohen Vetting Process
15
ProPublica. Liberty University Fined for Sexual Assault and Safety Failures
16
The Guardian. Liberty University Fined $14 Million Over Sexual Assault Failures
17
U.S. Department of Education. Liberty University Settlement Agreement
18
Liberty University. Liberty University and Department of Education Finalize Clery Program Review
19
USA Today. Liberty University Title IX Sexual Assault Investigations
20
PACER Monitor. Woolfolk v. Liberty University et al
21
U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. Open Investigations: Liberty University