Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr continues to defend President Trump, after several Liberty alumni said they were returning their diplomas in light of the institution's political affiliation. Falwell said he backs the president because 'he doesn't say what's politically correct, he says what's in his heart'.
A group of former students at Liberty University, one of the leading evangelical schools in the US, are returning their diplomas in protest at Liberty's – and particularly its president, Falwell – backing for Trump, NPR reported on Sunday.
Trump came under heavy fire from many sides for remarks he made following a white supremacist, neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia just over a week ago. One counter-protestor was killed during the violence that ensued, but Trump equivocated about the protests, saying there was blame 'on many sides'. He later condemned neo-Nazis, but became unhinged in a press conference on infrastructure in which he again defended the white-supremacist protests and their right to demonstrate. He said there were 'very fine people on both sides.'
Following those remarks, Falwell publicly applauded the president on Twitter, writing: 'Finally a leader in WH. Jobs returning, N Korea backing down, bold truthful stmt about #charlottesville tragedy.So proud of @realdonaldtrump'.
Falwell has long been a Trump-ally, and he and Liberty University were prominent in the president's 2016 election campaign, but Falwell's latest comments moved some to organise in protest.
'I'm sending my diploma back because the president of the United States is defending Nazis and white supremacists,' said Chris Gaumer, a Liberty 2006 graduate and former Student Government Association president. 'And in defending the president's comments, Jerry Falwell Jr is making himself and, it seems to me, the university he represents, complicit.'
Falwell later clarified his Tweet, saying that 'The truth as stated by @realDonaldTrump is that violent white supemacists, Nazi, KKK and similar hate groups are pure evil and un-American.' But he continued defending Trump, telling ABC News that 'One of the reasons I support him is because he doesn't say what's politically correct, he says what's in his heart. And sometimes that gets him in trouble.'
According to the New York Times, as many as 50 Liberty students are planning to return their diplomas. Several Liberty alumni penned the following letter to university officials:
'While this state of affairs has been in place for many months, the Chancellor's recent comments on the attack upon our neighbors in Charlottesville have brought our outrage and our sorrow to a boiling point. During the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, white supremacists, nationalists, and neo-Nazis perpetrated brutal violence against anti-racist protesters, murdering one woman and injuring many.
'Instead of condemning racist and white nationalist ideologies, Mr. Trump provided equivocal and contradictory comments. The Chancellor then characterized Mr. Trump's remarks, which included the claim that some of the persons marching as white nationalists and white supremacists at the rally were "very fine people," as "bold" and "truthful". This is incompatible with Liberty University's stated values, and incompatible with a Christian witness.'
Liberty University told the Christian Post that it supported the right of students and alumni to protest.
