Last week, Liberty University - the evangelical Christian mega-college founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell - made the national news when, while implementing a new funding scheme for student organizations, it revoked approval for the campus Democratic organization.
Liberty's Young Democrats club - the first in school history - was formed during last fall's election season, and was given an award for "Up-and-Coming Chapter of the Year" by the Virginia Young Democrats in April. But earlier this month, Liberty VP Mark Hine wrote to club president Brian Diaz that the club's status was being dropped because it had supported candidates whose views were "contrary to the mission of LU and to Christian doctrine," even though the club itself was officially pro-life and anti-gay-marriage. Following a maelstrom of criticism, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. offered to reinstate the club, providing it aligns itself with a pro-life, anti-gay Democratic group, and not the Democratic Party in general. (Which is kind of like saying that you'll allow penguins at your zoo, but not the black-and-white kind that waddle.)
On one level, reading a news story about a fledgling chapter of the Young Democrats having its club status revoked by Liberty University is completely unsurprising. After all, since its founding in 1971, Liberty's mission has always been to cultivate generations of conservative Christian voters and activists. Before his death, Rev. Falwell often said that he wanted his school to be the "Harvard of the right," and to this day, Liberty's official brochure touts the school's "strong commitment to political conservatism, total rejection of socialism, and firm support for America's economic system of free enterprise."
Two years ago, for my book The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's Semester at America's Holiest University, I spent a semester as an undercover student at Liberty. I transferred there from Brown University to learn about my Christian peers by living among them, and while at Liberty, I learned that much of what skeptical outsiders say about the school is true.
Yes, Liberty is a bastion of arch-conservatism. Yes, I was required to listen to lectures like "Myths Behind the Homosexual Agenda" and answer questions on a science exam about Noah's Ark. Yes, I heard sermons called "The Myth of Global Warming" and guest speeches by Sean Hannity. Yes, Liberty stifles free speech by censoring its student newspaper, refusing to give tenure to its faculty, and suppressing students who wish to speak out. (This last point is particularly troubling - there's actually a rule in Liberty's student handbook that mandates 12 reprimands and a $50 fine for any student found guilty of "participation in an unauthorized petition or demonstration.") And yes, I'll add my voice to the chorus of people calling for Chancellor Falwell to reverse his decision and reinstate the Young Democrats' official club status.
But during my semester there, I learned that Liberty is a much more diverse place than people give it credit for, and that speaking about the Liberty Young Democrats as if they were bizarre outliers (like "Jews for Jesus" or "Skydivers Afraid of Heights") ignores the fact that Liberty students, like many other young evangelicals across the nation, are rethinking what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century.
When I arrived at Liberty for my semester "abroad," I expected to find a campus full of ballot-punching Republicans. I found those, but I also met Christian feminists, Christian civil libertarians, Christians opposed to the war in Iraq, Christian gay-rights activists, and other Liberty students who challenged the norms of their parents' generation. As evidenced by the 32% of evangelicals between the ages of 18-29 who voted for Barack Obama last November, "Christian" and "Republican" are no longer synonymous in America, and Liberty's pathetic attempt to maintain a unified political stance by silencing dissent shows how out of touch the university is with its own student body.
I've never met Brian Diaz, the Liberty freshman who started the Young Democrats chapter, or Maria Childress, the club's faculty adviser who has drawn heat for openly disagreeing with her employer. But I do know that they're not alone.
A few days ago, I got an e-mail from a longtime Liberty professor who confessed that he'd voted for President Obama last fall, and told me that due to the "the dictatorial atmosphere" at Liberty, he could lose his job if anyone discovered his secret. Since my book came out, I've heard similar stories from former and current Liberty students, alumni, and faculty members, many of whom share that professor's worry. The evangelical world is changing, and regardless of the fate of the Young Democrats club, Liberty is changing with it, becoming less wedded to the GOP and more open to ideological diversity every day.
What Liberty's administration needs isn't just a lesson in tolerance - it's a long, honest look in the mirror.
Falwell Responds to Liberty University Young Democrats Ban
If you want to think for yourself you signed up at the wrong school. I think you're more whitewashing 30 years of history
1. Caricatures of Liberty's community are invariably inaccurate, and many comments here reflect these caricatures; such comments reveal more about the author's preexisting bias than about the news item under discussion. Read Roose's book - this is one of the biggest lessons he took away from his time at Liberty.
2. There is a great deal of intellectual, political, and cultural diversity on Liberty's campus - for instance, I had more sustained interaction with international students (without making some kind of special effort, like joining a multicultural club, to do so) than my best friend at James Madison University. Again, Roose testifies to this in his book. Many comments here reflect less a knowledge of or critique of Liberty's community and more the author's preexisting bias against conservative political ideas and/or whatever expression of conservative Christianity with which the author is familiar.
3. Finally, the headline to this article is misleading. The Democrats were not silenced, and Liberty University does not nor have they ever attempted to control any student's political affiliation.
https://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=18495&MID=8373
At the better colleges, as wide a variety of clubs are approved as the variety of the students' interest. Very roughly, a club centered on any subject worthy of study can receive funds at accredited universities. Good institutions set the standards intentionally permissive to *encourage* discourse on all subjects of interest to students. Taking the opposite approach fundamentally conflicts with the basic purpose of a college education. One might as well enroll at an online-only institution, or continue to be home-schooled, as attend "Liberty University."
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/printers/111th/IPres090316.pdf
That's not really accurate, is it? I haven't found anything in any of the official press releases - in other words, in places that actually describe the things that transpired and are transpiring - that comes even close to suggesting that Liberty University has begun officially monitoring or enforcing student political affiliations. In fact, I know this to be absolutely false; I recently graduated from Liberty after having spent four years there, including two years on student leadership. It is interesting that you tout your nearness to Liberty in a way that suggests you are a reliable source of information while also phrasing things in a way that leads to one of two conclusions: (1) You are careless with your words, which tends to be trouble when attempting to embark on reasoned discourse; or (2) You are deliberately phrasing things so as to paint Liberty in as negative a light as possible given your bias against their community and (apparently) against the personal appearances of the Falwell brothers. Either conclusion disinclines me from regarding the things you say as having much credibility.
Big appetite, Big ego.
Yeah, they are just like them.
...though I'm pretty sure that if you googled it yourself, you'd be able to find them quite easily...
And I'm pretty sure that you'll find that the man that gunned down George Tiller in cold blood in his church today was at the very least a fundamentalist evangelical. And it would not be surprising to anyone if he were from the LU brand of the evangelical Baptist church.
Intolerance and hatred, which is rife in all fundamentalism (Christian,Jewish, Islam), leads to the murder of those who believe differently. Throughout history. To deny that is to deny facts, which is also a habit of most fundamentals. Facts are inconvenient, and interfere with faith and "God's Will".
How would they define it? You are to agree with me?
I don' t know why and self-respecting Democrat would go there.
Also, its fun to note that the Liberty football team is called The Liberty Flames
In fact what You say could not be more wrong.
For one thing the school gets tax dollars. So it has to have the people eho pay them in mind and niot only their own agenda. - Ridiculous, I know. Imagine a rgihtie being accountable for waht he does with tax money.
But more than that education is a huge part of what will shape the future. The last ones who did what You here so freely want to let the Falwells of the US do, were hitler, Franco, Mussolini, - and let us not forget the Kremlin.
I would suggest You try to get a bit of information before You make a judgement. - Reading apparently helps.
Thats why these guys oppose hate crime legislation. They want to be sure to be able to legally commit any hate crime they want. j