Liberty University has a problem. Jerry Falwell Jr., the school’s president and son of its founder, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, has become a serious liability. It finally appears that Liberty is going to do something about it.
Speaking anonymously to Politico, dozens of current and former Liberty officials close to Falwell detailed his cronyist business deals, his fearmongering, and his public and private behavioral problems. They believe that Falwell has put the school’s mission and reputation in jeopardy.
The report confirms what many conservative Christians have long believed: Falwell is a self-interested crook who sees the Christian faith as a means to further his political and financial agenda.
Here are a few examples:
- Falwell and his wife, Becki, have been directing university resources to personal projects and real estate deals that have benefited his friends and family, Politico reported. In one instance, Falwell hired his son Trey (now a vice president of Liberty) and his company to manage the school’s shopping center. This habitual gifting of university contracts to businesses owned by friends and family has become such a problem that one senior university official said Falwell has turned the school into a “real estate hedge fund.”
- Falwell has used Liberty’s resources to loan money to his friends, even when the loans don’t further the school’s interests. For example, the university gave loans of at least $200,000 to Prototype Tourism LLC in 2014, a “destination marketing” company founded by a Liberty graduate who was close to Falwell. The graduate failed to pay back the loan. In another case, a good friend of Falwell’s, Robert Moon, whom Falwell regularly traveled with, founded a construction company. The school loaned the company $750,000 at its beginning and later awarded it more than $130 million in contracts along with land owned by Liberty.
- Falwell’s personal behavior, whether he’s partying at nightclubs, discussing his sex life with employees in way too much detail, or using his personal Twitter account to insult Trump critics, has left much of the school uneasy. He’s supposed to be an evangelical Christian leader, right? Falwell has tried to make evidence of his personal shortcomings disappear, including a photograph of him at a Miami nightclub. (For context, Liberty has a strict policy against co-ed dancing and alcohol. Breaking these rules can result in demerits and even expulsion).
Put aside the legality of these issues for a moment. For all I know, Falwell could be well within his right as the school’s president to direct Liberty’s resources to who he sees fit. Ignore Falwell’s politics as well. Falwell has claimed criticism voiced by officials in the Politico report is motivated by his support of President Trump. Whatever. Falwell’s politics are actually the least concerning thing about him. Besides, no one would care a lick about whom he supports and whom he doesn’t if he wasn’t busy misusing school funds and sneaking around Miami nightclubs.
My problem with Falwell (and it should be every conservative Christian’s concern) is the blatant dishonesty and lack of accountability. This is, after all, not just any university. It’s a Christian university. And Falwell is its representative — its leader.
He doesn’t seem to care, as long as Liberty keeps providing him with the power and resources necessary to prop up his lavish lifestyle. Students, in contrast, are expected to follow an ethics code that looks nothing like Falwell’s life.
Falwell isn’t an evangelical leader. He’s not even a good university president. He’s a shoddy example of what it means to be an educator, and more important, what it means to be a Christian: a faithful Christian dedicated not to personal gain, but to a life of faith that will inevitably require sacrifice and humility.
Falwell is a fraud. And the university would be better off without him.
