Liberty University

• 1. Introduction

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  Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, enrolled about 80,000 online students in 2020, alongside only about 15,000 on its residential campus. That imbalance helps make it one of the largest private non-profit universities in the United States. It is a conservative evangelical school affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention of Virginia. Its tuition is among the lowest in the country. It runs 17 colleges and fields Division I teams known as the Flames. How did a small Baptist college grow into this? Who pays for it, and what do students get in return? Why has a school so closely tied to Republican politics drawn presidents to its stage and federal regulators to its files?

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• 2. Lynchburg Baptist College

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  In 1971, the televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns founded a school called Lynchburg Baptist College. Falwell was already pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, and he served as the school's first chancellor. From 1979 to the late 1980s he also headed the Moral Majority, a right-wing political organization.

  In 1976, the school became Liberty Baptist College. Officials said the change distanced it from the name Lynchburg, which is often mistakenly associated with lynching. Towns added that Falwell wanted to ride the enthusiasm around the Bicentennial of the United States. The name changed once more in 1984, when the school became Liberty University.

  In 1985, the university began mailing VHS tapes to distance students. That program was the forerunner of today's online courses. In 1987, the IRS formally recognized the university's 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

  Money was the early struggle. Major donors kept the school afloat, and in 1990 it owed $110 million. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed it on probation several times during the 1990s because of that heavy debt. By 1996 the figure had fallen to $40 million. Some of the help came from unexpected places. The Unification Church was an early donor. In 1994, Sun Myung Moon's Women's Federation for World Peace funneled $3.5 million to the university, and in 1996 News World Communications loaned it $400,000. Around 2005, when high-speed internet connections spread, those mailed tapes would find a far larger audience.

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• 3. The Online Engine

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  The Liberty University Online Academy opened in 2007 with 23 students. It is a K-12 private school, and it now serves about 18,000 students worldwide. Its growth mirrors the larger online division, Liberty University Online, which offers degrees from associate level to doctorate.

  In fiscal year 2020, online tuition brought in $800 million, compared with $361 million from residential students. Faculty members told reporters that online students were effectively subsidizing the university, and critics argued that this money supported campus extras such as the ski slope and the gun range. Some faculty also acknowledged a steep drop in quality from the traditional courses to the online ones. The New York Times reported in 2018 that Liberty faculty acknowledged exactly that. Online instructors were described as mostly answering emails and grading, rather than creating and delivering lessons.

  Federal money flows through all of this. In 2010, Liberty students received about $445 million in federal financial aid, a 56 percent increase over the year before. It was the highest total of any school in Virginia. The following year, the university blocked campus internet access to the website of the News & Advance, a local newspaper, after it reported on that very fact. Jerry Falwell Jr. refused to say why, and the block was lifted a day after the article appeared. By 2019, Liberty reportedly received about $700 million in federal funding.

  In 2018, ProPublica and The New York Times reported on how students were recruited. Each of 300 salespeople was reportedly pressured to enroll up to eight students per day. They were told to quote tuition per credit rather than per course, which made it sound cheaper. They were also told not to mention that the first required classes include three Bible-studies courses, whose credits other universities generally do not accept. A separate team of 60 salespeople targeted military members, who had greater access to federal tuition assistance. A former employee said the university accepted any student with a grade point average above 0.5.

  The balance sheet grew along with enrollment. At the start of Falwell Jr.'s presidency in 2007, the university listed $259 million in assets. In 2012 he said the total had risen to $1 billion. By the end of his presidency in 2020, it listed over $2.5 billion. In June 2021, Liberty reported $3.94 billion in assets, $474 million in liabilities and an endowment of $1.71 billion. Third Way found that Liberty used less than 20 percent of its revenue for instruction. According to the College Scorecard, its graduation rate is 40 percent.

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• 4. Campus on the Mountain

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  The Freedom Tower, finished in February 2018, rises 17 stories and 245 feet. It is the tallest building in Lynchburg, and its 25-bell carillon includes a replica of the Liberty Bell. The Rawlings School of Divinity is housed inside it.

  The four-story Jerry Falwell Library opened in January 2014 at a cost of $50 million. It holds more than 250,000 items, which a robot-assisted storage system fetches and delivers to the front desk. At its entrance stands a 24-foot media wall powered by three Microsoft Kinect units. The library was part of a larger $500 million building and expansion plan. Inside it sits the National Civil War Chaplains Museum, the only museum in the nation devoted to the religious side of that war.

  In August 2009, construction finished on the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre, a synthetic ski slope designed by England's Briton Engineering. It was the first of its kind in the United States, with beginner, intermediate and advanced slopes. Nearby, an observatory opened in spring 2013 with a 20-inch telescope and several 8-inch Celestron instruments. In 2018, the university opened a $3.2 million on-campus shooting range to train students to protect themselves against shooters and terrorists.

  Sports venues are on the same scale. The $65 million Liberty Arena opened in 2020 and seats 4,000. In 2020, one of the diving platforms in the Liberty Natatorium collapsed for an unknown reason.

  Science on campus also carries a mission. The Center for Creation Studies aims to equip students to defend the Genesis creation account. Young Earth creationism holds that the Earth was created by God 6,000 to 10,000 years ago, rather than accreting over 4.5 billion years as scientists conclude. Creation Hall, in the Center for Natural Sciences, is dedicated to promoting young-Earth creation. The School of Engineering has also spent considerable resources on a project called Simulating Genesis, meant to show how the laws of physics align with biblical history.

  The oldest building of note is the Carter Glass Mansion, called Montview, built in 1923 for a newspaper publisher, U.S. senator and treasury secretary. The university bought the 1.7-acre estate in the late 1970s as its administrative headquarters. Jerry Falwell Sr. died at his desk there on the 15th of May 2007. He and his wife are buried on the rear lawn, and his office is preserved as it stood that year. The upstairs is now a bed and breakfast for university guests.

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• 5. The Liberty Way

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  The student handbook known as the Liberty Way sets the terms of daily life. It prohibits premarital sex, cohabitation and alcohol. Students may not use tobacco or be alone with a member of the opposite sex at an off-campus residence. Romantic relationships between members of the same sex are also barred. Critics say the code emphasizes purity culture.

  The rules have shifted in small steps. In 2015, Liberty revised the code to allow R-rated movies and video games rated M. In 2017, students aged 20 and over won the right to sign out and stay out past curfew. In 2018, the administration rejected a student government resolution that would have allowed off-campus drinking, profane language and tobacco.

  Twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, the Vines Center fills for convocation. It is the largest weekly gathering of Christian students in America. Attendance is mandatory for residential students and for commuters under 21. Students sit in assigned sections and may skip once per semester with 24 hours' notice to a Resident Assistant. The first two unexcused absences cost $25 each, and every later one costs $50. Guests have included pastors, athletes, motivational speakers and, usually, conservative political speakers.

  The 2021 edition of the Liberty Way prohibits words and actions indicating "LGBT states of mind." Students have criticized the university as unwelcoming, and Campus Pride listed it among the worst universities for LGBT students. In 2015, Liberty denied discounted tuition to same-sex and trans spouses of military personnel, while offering it to heterosexual military couples. In 2016, it ordered a psychology textbook that omitted sections with LGBTQ+ content. The school says it reserves its right to discriminate on the basis of religion to the extent that the law respects its religious objectives.

  The student newspaper, the Liberty Champion, became a flashpoint. In 2019, its former editor Will Young wrote in the Washington Post that school officials often overrode student editors and imposed censorship. After he resigned, he said, the school turned the paper into a faculty-run, student-written publication. Frustrated student journalists launched an independent paper, the Lynchburg Torch, which operated from 2017 to 2019.

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• 6. A Stage for Politics

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  In 1990, George H. W. Bush became the first sitting U.S. president to speak at a Liberty commencement. Ronald Reagan's close relationship with the school had already given it publicity in its early years. In 1996, Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas gave the commencement address. The Washington Post has said that Republican candidates are drawn to Liberty because it is viewed as a "bastion of the Christian right." Visitors have included George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal and John McCain.

  The stage is not exclusively Republican. Bernie Sanders spoke at convocation in 2015, and Jimmy Carter gave the 2018 commencement speech. Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton politely declined invitations. In 2009, the university withdrew recognition from its Young Democrats club, citing positions such as support for abortion rights, while the College Republicans remained recognized. Mike Pence gave the commencement address in 2019 and spoke at convocation in 2022.

  Donald Trump spoke at convocation in 2012, when he received an honorary doctor of business degree, and again in 2016. In May 2017, as president, he gave his first college commencement speech at Liberty and received an honorary Doctor of Laws. Three honorary degrees he received elsewhere have been rescinded as of 2022, but Liberty has kept both of its own.

  Inside the university, that embrace had a cost. Mark DeMoss, Falwell Jr.'s chief of staff, was forced to resign from the board of trustees after criticizing the Trump ties. The alumnus Jonathan Merritt had an invitation to speak rescinded, and the author Jonathan Martin was expelled from campus. In 2016, a student editor said Falwell Jr. had censored a column criticizing Trump over the Access Hollywood tape. In 2018, two student editors were fired, reportedly for articles critical of Trump. One of them lost a $3,000-a-semester scholarship. In 2019, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked Liberty among the worst universities for free speech.

  After the 2017 Charlottesville rally, where three people died and 33 were injured, Falwell Jr. said he was "so proud" of Trump's statement. A number of alumni returned their diplomas in protest. In spring 2018, the Zaki Gordon Cinematic Arts Center co-produced a feature film called The Trump Prophecy. In 2019, reports alleged that chief information officer John Gauger accepted cash through an outside consulting firm to rig two online polls for Trump before he became a candidate.

  In November 2019, Liberty and Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA launched a think tank called the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty. Its name combined the names of Falwell and Kirk, and it hired Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and surrogate Sebastian Gorka as fellows. In March 2021, the university renamed it the Standing for Freedom Center. In 2021, interim president Jerry Prevo told a senior vice president that he wanted the school to become a more effective political player. Politico noted that a 501(c)(3) charity is not supposed to participate directly in political campaigns.

  On the 5th of December 2015, Falwell Jr. told a convocation audience to obtain concealed handgun permits, after the San Bernardino attack. His remark about Muslims drew public condemnation, and Governor Terry McAuliffe called it "repugnant." Falwell later said he meant the shooters, not all Muslims. The Virginia High School League then stopped holding its debate state championships at Liberty, after hosting them each April through 2016.

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• 7. Flames and Debaters

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  On the 21st of October 1989, the Flames played their first home football game at Williams Stadium, which seats 25,000. Until then they had used Lynchburg's City Stadium. In 2018, the team began competing in the FBS as an independent. In 2020, it entered the AP Poll at 25 for the first time and finished the season ranked 17th. The Flames won their first three bowl games, the Cure Bowl in 2019 and 2020 and the LendingTree Bowl in 2021.

  In 2023, the team went 12-0 in the regular season, the first Division-I team from Virginia to do so, under head coach Jamey Chadwell. It won the Conference USA championship game, which the athletics program had joined as a full member that year. On the 1st of January 2024, it played its first New Year's 6 bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, and lost 45-6 to Oregon.

  In 2019, the men's basketball team won the Atlantic Sun tournament and was seeded 12th in the East Region of the NCAA tournament. It set a school record with its 29th win, upsetting Mississippi State 80-76 in the first round.

  The women's club ice hockey team has won six American Collegiate Hockey Association Division I national championships, in 2015 and in 2018-2023. Cross country runner Samuel Chelanga won All-American honors 14 times and took two gold medals and three silvers in three years.

  Liberty's debate program has been an unlikely powerhouse. It ranked first overall in its division at the National Debate Tournament in 2006, 2007, 2009-2010 and 2011. In 2017, the team finished atop the final rankings of the American Debate Association, the Cross Examination Debate Association and the National Debate Tournament. As of 2017, Liberty was the only school to finish first in all three in a single year. It had also placed first in the Cross Examination Debate Association for eight straight years.

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• 8. Reckoning

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  After the death of Jerry Falwell Sr., his son Jerry Falwell Jr. became the university's second chancellor and fourth president. On the 7th of August 2020, he was placed on indefinite leave after media reported allegations, including photographs, of personal and professional impropriety. He resigned on the 24th of August 2020, claiming he was entitled to $10.5 million in compensation. In 2019, he had already been accused of using the university for his family's financial benefit. Staff said tuition money had gone into real estate that benefited friends and family, including a shopping mall managed by his son Trey. The following year, the university sued Falwell Jr. for $40 million. In fall 2024, his ban from on-campus events was rescinded, and he attended homecoming. In May 2025, it was reported that Liberty had paid him about $15 million to settle all litigation.

  In spring 2020, Liberty allowed some students back after spring break despite the objections of the city's mayor. When a ProPublica reporter and a New York Times photographer investigated, the university pushed the local district attorney to charge them with trespassing. That summer, Falwell Jr. tweeted a picture of Governor Ralph Northam in black face, and some staff resigned in protest. The university hired Kelvin Edwards, an alumnus and former NFL player, to lead diversity initiatives and fired him three months later. In fall 2021, a COVID-19 outbreak sent all Lynchburg classes online for two weeks, with more than 400 students and 50 staff testing positive.

  In July 2021, twelve anonymous women sued the university under Title IX. They alleged that the honor code made reporting sexual violence difficult and that the school retaliated against women who reported. Ten settled in a confidential agreement. In October 2021, a ProPublica investigation found that officials discouraged, dismissed and even blamed students who came forward. Scott Lamb, a senior vice president, said he was fired on the 6th of October 2021 for reporting staff failures to handle assaults properly. He called the tendency to ignore reports once they climbed the chain of command "a conspiracy of silence."

  In fall 2023, a preliminary U.S. Department of Education report alleged that officials had failed to report campus crime statistics, destroyed evidence and retaliated against an employee who raised concerns. Among the alleged acts were tasking IT staff with wiping hard drives and failing to log a police report alleging a rape by an unnamed former president. The report said the underreporting might trace back as far as 1992. Liberty faced a possible fine of up to $37.5 million. In March 2024, it was fined $14 million. NPR described a 105-page final report documenting "serious, persistent, and systemic violations." Liberty was placed under federal monitoring until April 2026.

  Dondi Costin was named president on the 31st of March 2023 and took office on the 1st of July 2023, succeeding Jerry Prevo. In July 2024, Ellenor Zinski, a transgender woman fired by the university, sued for $300,000 under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In February 2025, a federal court denied Liberty's motion to dismiss the case.

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