The Biden Administration’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit targeting the largest Christian university in the United States.
According to the Daily Caller, the FTC’s lawsuit against Grand Canyon University (GCU) accuses the college of deceptive business practices regarding its doctoral programs, as well as illegal telemarketing practices. The lawsuit was filed in a federal court in the District of Arizona.
“Grand Canyon deceived students by holding itself out as a non-profit institution and misrepresenting the costs and number of courses required to earn doctoral degrees,” said the FTC on Wednesday in a press release. “We will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of students.”
The lawsuit claims that the university’s “marketing activities have also resulted in millions of abusive telemarketing calls to consumers who have specifically requested that Defendants not solicit them, and to individuals on the National Do Not Call Registry.” According to the lawsuit, GCU called applicants who had submitted their contact information to the university’s website despite allegedly requesting to not be called.
The FTC suit further claims that potential doctoral students at the university were misled regarding the required amount of time needed to finish the accelerated doctoral program. Biden’s Department of Education (ED) fined the university over $37 million in October following an investigation which determined that GCU had “consistently misrepresented doctoral program costs.”
GCU currently enrolls over 100,000 students, with another 85,000 students enrolled online as of the fall of 2022, thus making it the largest Christian university in the country. The lawsuit represents the latest effort by the Biden administration to use its executive power and lawfare to target political opponents, including Christian entities.