Liberty University will fully reopen in August after successfully navigating the coronavirus pandemic with zero confirmed coronavirus cases, the school announced.
Classes are scheduled to resume on Aug. 24, and the university will be implementing health and safety measures to make sure students are protected, according to Roanoke’s WFXR.
“I agree with what Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said about the wisdom of keeping college campuses open where COVID-19 poses close to zero lethal threat to the young people who make up such a high percentage of the campus population,” Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. tweeted along with an announcement about the decision to reopen.
I agree with what Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said about the wisdom of keeping college campuses open where COVID-19 poses close to zero lethal threat to the young people who make up such a high percentage of the campus population. https://t.co/HJt3In8Zgs
— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) June 2, 2020
“Liberty University intends to operate much as usual in the fall, with extra precautions taken for the safety of our entire campus community,” said Falwell in a statement, adding that the school will take necessary steps to protect the vulnerable while allowing those not likely to contract the disease to operate freely.
More than 700 media reports slammed Falwell for his decision to allow students to return to campus after spring break during the virus pandemic, predicting the move would cause deaths, but after zero confirmed cases involving a Liberty student, Falwell now says his handling of the situation should be viewed as the “model.”
“Liberty University created the model that other universities should follow for pandemics by protecting its students, faculty, and staff from COVID cases in the local community,” Falwell said a few weeks ago. “We are thankful to God that nobody who lived in a campus residence hall or who worked in a campus office tested positive for the virus.”
Several students vocally supported Falwell’s handling of the coronavirus, with one student, senior Carter Chapman, telling Campus Fix that Falwell “put the students first in keeping everything open, so they could use the money they had spent on school as they wished.”
“All in all, I found Liberty responded extremely well and looked at the students’ interests before jumping to conclusions on the virus,” Chapman added.
After being widely criticized in the media for allowing students back on campus after spring break, little attention was given to the zero confirmed cases number that came as a result, which Falwell chalked up to a “one-sided” media landscape.
“It shows how one-sided the American media has become, that they sound the alarm on the false narrative that there are COVID-19 cases at Liberty, and then when they find out that there were none, total silence,” Falwell told the Washington Examiner last month.
