Liberty announces independent investigation

“Liberty University is opening an independent investigation into Jerry Falwell Jr.’s tenure as president, a wide-ranging inquiry that will include financial, real estate and legal matters, the school’s board of trustees announced Monday.” - BPNews

Discussion

Thankful for Christian schools that have taken the character of its leader seriously. I am an alumnus of Liberty, and I appreciated my education, but it was far down my list of schools that I encouraged my daughter to go to. I hope that other schools are ensuring that they have safeguards in place to be out ahead of this. Falwell, in the past, has talked about how he’s not a spiritual leader, but a businessman. I think we see the danger of that type of leader at Christian schools. Hopefully BJU, Boyce, TMU, and others set the example.

It’s worth noting that the investigation, at least if done properly, will not just take a look at the behavior of Falwell, but should also take a look at the question of “what did Liberty deans, executives, and board members know, when did they know it, and what did they do about it?”

If you don’t answer these questions, you tend to end up doing very little to fix the culture of the place, and that’s the key deal. Most offenders tend to leave a trail of hints that something is amiss long before they get caught for the “front page of the newspaper” sins.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

What did the Board know, and when did they know it?

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

“If they did not do anything about it, why not?”

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

When the President does it, it’s not illegal. That’s what I believe …

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

The Board:

We screwed up terribly on what was a little thing and became a big thing, but we will have to admit we weren’t good butchers …

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.

….if Falwell tells us “I am not a crook”…..

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

[TylerR]

The Board:

We screwed up terribly on what was a little thing and became a big thing, but we will have to admit we weren’t good butchers …

In defense of Nixon, I know, I know, but I think people have been fed a bill of goods on him. I have, over the years, read many of Nixon’s books. He started writing after he resigned. Many of them are very good. Maybe they are out of date now, since he wrote a lot on the Cold War. If you have not read No More Vietnams, you are missing something. He had a keen mind and you will learn a lot about the roots of the Vietnam war and what was going on in the Vietnamese government itself.

Having read all of that, I think I know what Nixon meant by his famous “if the President does it it’s not illegal” quote. You have to realize what it was like from 1967-1972. It was crazy due to the Vietnam protests and war. Plus there is a hot Cold War going on with the USSR. The threat of the anarchists and communists in America at the time was real. Not made up to a large degree like certain Russian influence claims today… In that context, it was important in his mind to investigate what was going on in the Democrat party in 1972, whose nominee was overtly extremely socialist. He thought he was protecting the country. I think he genuinely thought that.