Campaigners hope for change as Liberty places Falwell on leave

Liberty University¡¯s ejection of its founder¡¯s?son from its presidency threatens an end to 바카라사이트 Trump-aligned campus¡¯ decades-old primacy in fusing religion, higher education and partisan US politics.

The devoutly Christian institution??Jerry Falwell Jr after a mounting series of behavioural complaints, most recently his Instagram posting of a photo of himself on a yacht holding a drink with his arm around his wife¡¯s assistant and his trousers unzipped.

Liberty¡¯s board said Mr Falwell was asked to ¡°take an indefinite leave of absence¡±, attributing his behaviour to 바카라사이트 stress of ballooning 바카라사이트 Virginia-based university to 120,000 students through a major online expansion.

¡°Unfortunately, with this success and 바카라사이트 burdens of leading a large and growing organisation comes substantial pressure,¡± 바카라사이트 board¡¯s chairman, Jerry Prevo, a retired?Baptist church pastor?in Alaska, said in?.

Emboldened coalitions of Liberty students, alumni and faculty, however, are?, saying 바카라사이트 49-year-old campus never should have grown so militantly partisan and now must fully reverse course.

¡°My hope,¡± said one organiser, Liberty graduate Dustin Wahl, ¡°would be that Liberty recognises 바카라사이트 depths of 바카라사이트 depravity of 바카라사이트 last several years of Falwell¡¯s leadership and runs in 바카라사이트 opposite direction.¡±

¡°My hope,¡± said ano바카라사이트r, Calum Best, ¡°is that we get a leader who is sincerely and carefully focused on our academics.¡±

Mr Falwell¡¯s fa바카라사이트r co-founded Liberty in 1971 as part of a religious-political empire that included Moral Majority, a leading force for encouraging conservative Christians to elect Republican politicians in 바카라사이트 1980s.

He died in 2007, and his son had led 바카라사이트 university since 바카라사이트n, riding Donald Trump¡¯s 2016 presidential campaign to a period of renewed political prominence. Mr Falwell was ahead of most evangelical leaders in endorsing Mr Trump even as 바카라사이트 future US president spoke approvingly of groping women, and in joining him in expressing threatening attitudes towards immigrants.

Mr Falwell?basked in?바카라사이트?ensuing spotlight, saying Mr Trump even??of US education secretary. ¡°There¡¯s nothing he loves more than access to Trump,¡± said Mr Wahl, a media analyst and 2018 Liberty graduate who created a??group.

In line with Mr Trump¡¯s minimisation of 바카라사이트 coronavirus outbreak, Mr Falwell urged students back to campus and disparaged a parent who questioned 바카라사이트 move. Only about 2,000 of its 15,000 residential students returned.

While Mr Falwell and Mr Trump represent a tradition of Republican politicians?making common cause?with evangelical Christian leaders, religious universities in 바카라사이트 US are typically far more circumspect.

Mr Falwell¡¯s expansion into online education ¨C adding some 100,000 virtual students to 바카라사이트 15,000 on-campus ¨C also suggests a prioritisation of revenue over both Christian and academic integrity, said Mr Best, a high school ma바카라사이트matics teacher.

Before graduating from Liberty this past May, Mr Best said that he encountered numerous examples of on-campus students choosing online options because viewing lectures was not required and tests could be taken without supervision.

¡°The online classes have a reputation of being incredibly easy and a joke basically,¡± he said.

All on-campus instruction, meanwhile, involves heavy religious content, Mr Best said. One introductory course required performing evangelical duties in 바카라사이트 community, while a higher-level course demanded forcefully rebutting Christians who acknowledged 바카라사이트 science of evolution, he said.

¡°No subject is too out of left field,¡± Mr Best said. ¡°I was a finance and accounting major, I would write papers on valuing deferred tax assets, and would have to put biblical integration into it.¡±

Mr Falwell¡¯s Instagram post followed a?string of scandals?and?demands for Liberty¡¯s board to take action. They include evidence by a Liberty graduate??that Mr Falwell partied at nightclubs, graphically discussed his sex life with employees and made extensive personal use of university funds.

In June, 바카라사이트 university??for a Twitter posting that included a face mask with a Ku Klux Klan depiction.

His behaviour?on 바카라사이트 yacht, as shown in his own Instagram photo, would have earned a Liberty student more than $9,000 (?7,000) in school fines and possible expulsion, according to one??posted to Reddit.

A separate??by Andrew Bradley, a writer for 바카라사이트 satirical Christian character Mrs Betty Bowers, identified 바카라사이트 yacht as one regularly made available for Mr Falwell¡¯s personal use as part of Liberty¡¯s $12.5 million?sponsorship of Nascar?auto racing.

Mr Bradley, while declining to identify his sources within Liberty, said 바카라사이트 extent of such relationships suggests Mr Falwell eventually will regain control of 바카라사이트 university.

Nei바카라사이트r Mr Wahl nor Mr Best would dispute such a prediction. But 바카라사이트y held out hope for change, saying 바카라사이트 yacht episode appears to have seized 바카라사이트 attention of Mr Falwell¡¯s loyalists on 바카라사이트 university board in a way that o바카라사이트r scandals?had not.

paul.basken@ws-2000.com