by Liberty University Online Calendar 2023 23 – Liberty University classes are remote, but its students return to dorms. It could be a public health disaster in the making.
Liberty University campus in 2018. School president Jerry Falwell Jr. announced that the campus would reopen despite a rise in coronavirus cases in Virginia, where the school is located. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Liberty University Online Calendar 2023 23
On Sunday, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. announced that, unlike virtually every other college and university in the United States, Liberty would soon reopen, allowing thousands of students and faculty to return to campus, even when the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc and cities. , where the school is located, advised against the move.
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“I think we have a responsibility to our students, who have paid to be here, who want to be here, who love to be here, to give them the opportunity to be with their friends, to continue their studies, to enjoy the accommodation and food that they already paid for and not interrupt his college life,” Falwell, Jr. said in an interview with a Richmond-area newspaper on Sunday.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is asking Liberty University to reconsider the decision to invite students back to campus. “I would suggest that President Falwell investigate the actions of the leaders of Virginia’s top universities.” — Richard Chumney (@RichChumney) March 25, 2020
To be sure, the abrupt closures adopted by thousands of other colleges and universities resulted in big problems for many, with international students and students in need of housing in line as dormitories and cafeterias closed.
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But Liberty’s faculty have already been on campus during this time, they’ve been asked to teach about emptying rooms while college, and Falwell Jr. — provides vastly different stories about the university’s coronavirus strategy to the media. and members of the university community. While the university says students will take all classes online, Falwell told ABC on Tuesday that “between one and two thousand” students have returned to campus dormitories and cafeterias, large gathering places where the coronavirus can spread. easily. In short, the university will be open and, according to Falwell Jr. closed, “more like an apartment complex than a university” during this time. The disjointed strategy has left many at Liberty confused and upset. I have reached out to Liberty University for comment and will update if I hear back.
As President Trump begins to voice his desire to return to some semblance of economic normalcy by Easter, the president of one of the world’s largest Christian universities (and a big Trump supporter) is using his campus as a testing ground for demonstrate that the pandemic is not a real concern. In a March 23 press release, Falwell Jr. said, “Our mindset was, ‘Let’s get them back as soon as we can,'” despite a surge in coronavirus cases in the state of Virginia.
“Ultimately, it’s a failure of leadership and communication,” a Liberty University professor who wished to remain anonymous told me.
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Liberty University is one of the largest Christian universities in the world with around 15,000 students on campus, but more than 95,000 students take classes online. Founded in 1971 by Falwell Jr.’s father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, as Lynchburg Baptist College, the school has grown into a massive institution of higher learning with hundreds of undergraduate and graduate degrees under his auspices.
But under the leadership of Falwell Jr., who has served as the school’s president since 2007, it has also become a platform for promoting “political evangelism.” As I wrote last year:
It’s important to remember that despite often being described as a Christian leader, Jerry Falwell Jr. was never a priest, a fact he’s not shy about sharing, even as he runs one of the world’s largest Christian universities. . In accordance with the agreement made with his father, Falwell Jr. took over. after the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s death in 2007 he headed Liberty University while his brother, Jonathan, took over the church his father co-founded in 1956, Thomas Road Baptist Church. Falwell is also not shy about his college fundraising efforts or his role in the world of what I will call “political evangelicalism”: the effort to combine evangelical Christianity with bare-fisted politics to bring evangelical priorities to the fore. legislation and evangelical politicians (or politicians willing to accede to evangelical interests) in office.
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Falwell is also a long-time supporter of Donald Trump (due to the president’s supposed “business acumen”). Because of that alliance during the 2016 presidential campaign, Falwell Jr. said he was offered the job of secretary of education.
And it’s fervent support for Trump that some believe may have influenced Falwell Jr.’s decision-making regarding the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
It was largely an overreaction from the mainstream media and potentially a “Christmas present” from North Korea. In an interview with Fox News radio host Todd Starnes, Falwell Jr. said: “Shame on the media for trying to blow up [the coronavirus] and destroy the American economy. They’re out to destroy the economy just to hurt Trump.”
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On Fox & Friends, Jerry Falwell Jr claims that people are “overreacting” to the coronavirus, that the national response is “their next attempt to catch Trump” and that the virus itself is a North Korean bioweapon. pic.twitter.com/2JPuNBW7C3 — Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) March 13, 2020
On campus, Falwell Jr. played down and other leaders addressed the pandemic during the March 13 convocation (the convocation is a mandatory assembly for students held twice a week), referring to the coronavirus as a “flu.” and saying Liberty would stay open and avoid large gatherings. “I don’t see us doing the same thing that other schools have done,” Falwell Jr. said, referring to colleges and universities that were already closed in the wake of the coronavirus.
“You paid to be here, you wanted to be on campus, I wanted to give you what you pay for,” he continued, as he told students to be careful around people with respiratory illnesses and the elderly. While his recent rhetoric toward domestic businesses has been less dismissive of the virus, reflecting Trump’s turnaround on the issue, the messages at Liberty have been incredibly mixed.
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But as a faculty member I spoke to told me, students are actually getting a clear message from the university: “[Coronavirus is] not as bad or serious as the ‘media’ makes it out to be.”
And for teachers, the situation has been doubly challenging, as they are expected to continue teaching on campus even when students are not present in the classroom. Marybeth Davis Baggett, an English professor at Liberty, described the confusing situation in an opinion piece for the Religious News Service:
Faculty and staff must also report, even though telecommuting options are readily available. As a member of the Liberty faculty, I have been told that my colleagues and I must conduct our instruction from our offices, although that instruction is now delivered virtually. We are also expected to maintain office hours and welcome students for face-to-face interaction.
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In response, Falwell Jr. tweeted. page linking to Liberty’s response to the coronavirus as he refers to her as “Lady Baggett”.
All data here was provided to @newsadvance reporter Richard Chumney over 24 hours ago at his request. He thanked us but conveniently still hasn’t posted after claiming he was busy! I bet Mrs. “Baggett” is embarrassed now! https://t.co/nlmhyVCCO0 — Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 23, 2020
And supervising professors and faculty apparently receive changes from the university on an hourly basis, even according to Falwell Jr.’s media appearances.
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For example. Falwell Jr. said in interviews with CNN and ABC News that all teachers were working from home due to the pandemic, but I reviewed emails sent to teachers that clearly stated they had to request permission and explain why they needed to work from home at instead of in their offices on campus. My source told me that Falwell Jr. is either lying or has not communicated the new guidance to the faculty, but he has been more than willing to do so to the media. “Now my colleagues are wondering if we should go inside or if we can stay at home.”
One faculty member said this lack of clarity was par for the course at Liberty. “To be honest, that’s how things work at Liberty. It doesn’t work as well when there’s not a crisis, [and] it goes especially badly when there’s a crisis that we’re realizing. Liberty does things on the fly.”
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