Liberty University will welcome up to 5,000 students back to campus following spring break despite the coronavirus outbreak, which has caused many schools to close their campuses and hold classes online.
"I think we have a responsibility to our students — who paid to be here, who want to be here, who love it here — to give them the ability to be with their friends, to continue their studies, enjoy the room and board they've already paid for and to not interrupt their college life," Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. told The Richmond Times-Dispatch on Monday.
Dozens of schools and universities across the country have closed and moved classes online in response to the virus outbreak. 250 people in Virginia, where Liberty University is located, have tested positive for the disease and seven have died. Gov. Ralph Northam has instituted a ban on gatherings of over 100 people and ordered all non-essential businesses to close by the start of the day Wednesday, but it’s not clear how this will affect the school.
One faculty member at Liberty, English Professor Marybeth Davis Baggett, wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post accusing Falwell of making “a terrible mistake” by keeping the campus open.
“This decision runs contrary to the three other residential schools in our area who have closed their dorms, allowing only those with nowhere else to go to remain,” Baggett wrote.
She goes on to say, “This foolhardy decision tracks Falwell’s conspiratorial thinking about COVID-19 and smacks of defiance.”
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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